With only two months left until the second Scottish Smallholder and Grower Festival (Saturday 28th September at Lanark Agricultural Centre), the programme of seminars and demonstrations is filing up.

Three seminar areas operate throughout the day with a range of speakers and topics. A full listing is available on the Festival website but here are a few highlights to whet your appetite:

The programme kicks off at 9am with a session on keeping alpacas, with Sue McBride from The Alpaca Loft, supported by The British Alpaca Society and Alpaca Farmers of Scotland. Sue made a similar presentation last year so if you are interested in keeping these lovely animals, do come along. There will also be a display of alpacas and alpaca products.

If alpacas aren’t your thing, join Ruth Dalton, from RBST, who’ll be talking about small scale cattle keeping – if you get really enthused, hang around until 5pm for the first annual show and sale of Dexter cattle, organised by the Scottish branch of the Dexter Cattle Society. Just remember to bring your trailer!

Upstairs in the Symington suite, QMS will be giving one of their very popular demonstrations of butchery and charcuterie – just in time, if you have pigs ready to go.

As the nights draw in, you might be thinking about how to fill the long dark evenings – so there are demonstrations of woolcraft and spinning, basket making and stick making to inspire you.
And if Christmas is on your mind, Janice Houghton Wallace will be explaining all about turkey keeping on a small scale.

And in the foyer, there will be a range of quality craft and food stalls, if the Christmas spirit engulfs you completely and leaves you needing some retail therapy.
Schedules for the livestock show classes and Garden, Craft and Kitchen competitions are available on-line; entries close on the 6th September. Tickets are also available to buy on-line, priced at £10 for adults, £5 for 12-16 year olds and under 12s go free.