Single player vs Self hosted server?

Hi guys, I love the game and played a ton of it with my friends in a server before and I really loved the fact that I could ACTUALLY have a farm system that grew stuff while I was at work, asleep, etc.

Single player though, farm crops and stuff don’t grow unless i’m actively playing the game, right?

Would it be better to self host a server so I can play single player with an active world running, or is that foolish? Are there mods to circumvent this or a better alternative?

Thanks!