Our Vison

We work for a strong community dedicated to organic agriculture, social justice and permaculture principles, embedded in a web of communities which share strength, love and battles. We are anarcho-syndicalists still enmeshed in the dominant culture, but working to create something much more just.

Cormack
Brian MacIssac and Rebecca Kneen

The Farm Folk: Brian & Rebecca

Brian MacIsaac and Rebecca Kneen have been running the farm since 2000. Brian brings artistic vision and expression to the farm in murals and design, as well as a passion for completion of projects and love of livestock. Rebecca manages the hops, garden and fruit trees, as well as the sheep flock. Her particular interests are in wool and fibre, seed saving and feeding people.

Farm and Brewery

Left Fields is the home of Crannóg Ales, Canada’s first certified organic on-farm microbrewery. Farm and brewery are intertwined in a mutual aid relationship, with the brewery providing feed, compost material and greywater for the farm as the farm grows hops, herbs and fruit for the brewery. Sustainability is the key, with systems that support each other.

Left Fields Hops Yard 1
Left Fields Sheep in the snow

Critters

Left Fields includes a small sheep flock, seasonal pigs, a home flock of laying hens, and a lot of wildlife – as well as our beloved Irish Wolfhound and the cats. A sustainable small organic farm needs livestock for soil nutrients as well as best use of the types of soil on the farm. All the critters play an integral role in weed control, fertilization, pruning or digging as well as providing us with wool, meat, eggs and love. We strive to give everyone the best and most natural life we can, and a clean and quick end.

The Whole Farm

Like many small farms, diversity gives us both inspiration and income. Hops and hops rhizomes are the backbone of the business end, but there’s lots more. The sheep provide us with wool, for sale as rovings and yarn, as well as the basis for wool crafts like felting and knitting. We also sell lamb and pork seasonally. We grow and save seeds, primarily tomatoes, peppers and beans but we add more every year. Some of the tomatoes and peppers are turned into spices which we also sell.

See our farm and hops shops for more information.

We are involved in several organic farming organizations at both local and federal levels with the goal of both improving the organic standards and helping other farmers with their certification process.

Organic certification provides certainty and guidance: certainty for the consumer that the farm practices are as claimed, and guidance for the farmer in sustainable and thoughtful practices. For more, see our Sustainability section.

Being on unceded Secwepemc Territory is a responsibility to work towards a more just relationship with Indigenous people, both individually and systemically. We are engaged in building these relationships on the land and in person.

Left Fields Herladry 1