I know, some of you are probably really boggled at that title. Some of you might even be wondering “What is Clarkson’s Farm?” and imagining some sort of Fantasy or Sci-Fi show revolving around a farm on an alien planet or something like that.

Others of you might be wondering why after my hammering of the Halo show (well-deserved, I might add), the next show I’m talking about isn’t Fallout (which was excellent by the way, if deserving of that rating) but rather … I mean, Clarkson’s Farm?

Let’s back up a bit then. What is Clarkson’s Farm?

Well, the Clarkson referred to in the title is Jeremy Clarkson, a prominent TV personality from the UK most famously known for being one member of the trio that made up Top Gear. Yes, that Top Gear. The show that routinely saw worldwide viewing numbers that could compete with the Superbowl. Yep, a show about “cars” (that routinely was far more than that) which ran for 13 or so seasons and became one of the world’s most-watched television shows, with spin-offs in almost every other country.

Seriously, if you haven’t seen that old show, it’s a hoot, and once you sit down to watch it you’ll see why hundreds of millions tuned into each new episode each week. It was an absolute blast, but like all good things it did have to end. And I’m not here to tell you to go watch that show, but to tell you why you should instead watch the show one of the leading trio went on to make afterwards.

See, all three of the leads for Top Gear were getting pretty far along in years, so when the time came to separate from Top Gear, even though they all went right back to something similar with The Grand Tour, each also started looking at other things to do.

For Jeremy Clarkson, that was having the idea of buying a thousand-acre farm in the Cotswalds, and filming himself (and everyone else who is roped in) trying to run it.

Now, if you’re American, you’re probably thinking “Oh, reality TV” right about now. With all its artificial drama and tweaks to make for “good television.”

But that’s not what Clarkson’s Farm is at all.

No, Clarkson’s Farm is more like a docuseries. With some comedic moments thrown in because Clarkson is a bombastic personality (for example, when the time comes to purchase a tractor, rather than buy something one would think of, he goes out and purchases a brand he likes, which leads to him owning a tractor sized and made for American farming operations, or in other words it’s massive).

But it’s not reality TV. Instead it’s Clarkson and his associates on the farm trying to run a farm. Each growing season ends with a tally of all their expenses, their income, and what’s left over (if anything). They go into the details of trying to figure out what crops to plant, the heartbreak of losing a baby calf or lamb (plus the care it takes to get one in the first place).

Clarkson’s Farm is about farming.

That’s why I say it might be one of the most important shows that’s streaming right now. Because it shows, up front and with brutal honesty, the plight of a working class of people that’s key to our survival as a species … and yet that so many of us don’t understand the first thing about or even think of.

Yes, there is language, sometimes quite coarse. Farmers, after all. And there are the facts of life. Farms see animals being bred, give birth, and then later taken to the slaughterhouse.

And given that if even half of the farms in the world stopped producing or failed, billions would starve, I think knowing on some level what happens at a farm (and more than just “They grow food, how hard can it be?”) should be vital knowledge.

Sands, I grew up on a small subsistence farm, and have worked on a relative’s commercial farm, and yet I’ve learned a ton about how dicey the job is from Clarkson’s Farm. And that it’s not a job, it’s a way of life.

A way of life that, as Clarkson discovers, many know nothing about, and are all too keen to bury any knowledge of despite depending on the very crops and products said farm can produce (as, if you watch the show, his local council proves when they time and time again try to get in the way of his farm surviving).

Farming is hard. And Clarkson’s Farm shows that. It’s possibly the best demonstration of what an oft-forgotten way of life is and consists of.

Yes, it has coarse language. Yes, you’re going to see animals having sex and giving birth. Because that is what happens on a farm. It’s the circle of life.

But honestly, if you have the ability to watch the show you should. Because it’s an eye-opening look at the subject, and well, if I can get on a soapbox for a moment? Too many people don’t know where the food on their shelves comes from. They know nothing about the amount of work, the effort, or even the process that goes into their corn, grain, eggs … whatever you pick. Outside of knowing that it “comes from a farm” somehow.

And yet, without all that knowledge, in many places like the US they’re asked to choose representatives to make choices regarding, or even make choices directly, those same organizations.

Maybe that’s not you. But either way? Clarkson’s Farm is a blast to watch, and you’ll learn about the life of a farmer. Fun and educational.

So yeah, give it a watch if you at all have the opportunity. It’s eye-opening.

As for me? I’ve got a plot outline for The Phoenix to finish! Max out!