The Lint Mill
Farm Walk
July '26
@ The Lint Mill, Carnwath
4 July, 11am - 4pm
The Making of a Meadow
The Lint Mill is a 13-acre certified organic smallholding. Five years ago, Debby and Colin began to regenerate a field into a meadow with the help of *ScotFWAG’s Birds & Bees Project. This was the story of how they built soil biology and plant and animal diversity and look at the positive impact that this project has had on the ecology of the farm in a remarkably short space of time.
We also had the opportunity to look at non-crop plants (aka weeds!) to ask what they are telling us about the conditions beneath our feet as well as a walk round pasture where the main tool being used was rest, to see what nature was doing all by herself.
29 June '26
Faecal Egg Count (FEC) and Sustainable Parasite Management
If you've taken part in fecal egg counting as part of your journey towards sustainable farming, you would have found this course valuable. We learned to carry out our own fecal egg count tests and so we can cut out costly veterinary fees for good. It will contribute towards combatting the silent crisis of anthelminitc resistence in the parasites that affect our livestock.
The Course Content
• Classroom and practical sessions to cover all aspects of FECs.
• Everything you need to know about parasites, including lifecycles, pathogenicity and resistance.
• How to collect, store and prepare samples.
• How to analyse and identify what you are seeing under the microscope – each attendee has exclusive use of a microscope.
• Principles of targeted, selective treatment.
• Correct use of anthelmintics.
Sarah Tinkler
of FEC it
We are delighted to have Sarah Tinkler (www.gofecit.com/) here as part of her Scottish workshop tour. Sarah is an experienced and LANTRA-approved training professional with over 30 years’ experience. Sarah will teach us how to carry out FECs on this full day course for livestock, equines, camelids, companion animals.
To see how to collect a faecal sample click here.
Optional LANTRA accreditaion and equipment discounts
This is a LANTRA accredited course and you can opt to receive the qualification for an additional fee of £60. All course participants will receive discount codes if they wish to purchase their own FEC equipment at the end of the course.
Listening to your Weeds: Soil Lessons from the Field
March '26
Chris Maughan is an Assistant Professor of Agroecological Knowledge and Innovation Systems at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University. He led our Webinar on weeds as bioindicators. To read notes from the webinar and to access Chris's Field Guide for Farmers, click below.
Grounded in February '26: Good Soil, Good Company
This was a relaxed and friendly gathering of people who care about soil health. Meeting at Castlebank Horticultural Centre in Lanark we met others, shared ideas, and helped shape a collective agenda for the months ahead—what we want to learn, explore, and work on together.
We began with a video of James Rebanks talking to Allen Williams to spark conversation, then we workshopped ideas for the future of the network. We were delighted to be joined by growers, farmers and soil biologists.
The event produced an excellent list of ideas to help us structure our ideas and to plan sessions to meet the greatest areas of need. We fuelled our event with plentiful organic homebaking!
Cleghorn Farm Walk Nov. '25
At the first meeting of the new Clydesdale Soil Health Group, a group of farmers and growers met at Cleghorn Farm near Lanark.
We compared soils across 6 different locations, and considered current management, context, aims and how to use tools at our disposal to increase resilience and improve productivity.
