Medieval peasants actually had it pretty good. They worked hard in the springtime plowing. They worked hard in the falltime harvesting. In the summer, they hunted & fished & got married. Post-harvest, they went to the town and sold their goods. During the winter, they partied on home-brewed ale.
These peasants had a highly varied diet. They ate fish, vegetables, mushrooms, grains, fruit, pickles, and usually had a ham curing in the chimney. Famines hit them far less hard because they made the food. Of course, famines destroyed cities and towns, because the farmers didn't sell food then. Plagues didn't hit farmers as hard, because they weren't all in one big hive passing germs around.
They bathed regularly. The "no bath" thing was actually a Renaissance idea, not a medieval one. They couldn't easily travel, but no one did back then. They had a church, they had festivals, and the infamous "droid de siegneur" was completely fictional (look it up).
Medieval wars bypassed them - peasants weren't pressed into service, and knights didn't kill them. Sometimes it was awkward to be forced to house men-at-arms for a few weeks. Of course if the Vikings or Magyars raided, they would attack peasants, which sucked. Or if some church leader decided to root out heresy that was bad (they ALWAYS found heresy if they looked for it). But overall this wasn't a terrible time to live. Don't believe modern propaganda.