Lesley Allan Creative Works

15/08/2021

I feel like I've been waiting forever. Beautiful dahlia, just a little bit longer to go. This is the first year I've grown flowers so I'm very excited.

10/08/2021

🐛🐝🐜 When it comes to gardening there is one thing you need to learn to appreciate, bugs.

Sure it's easy to love bees and butterflies, but what about those we tend to fear?

This year I really learned to love wasps and their tame nature in the right environment. With so much hot weather and very little rain we had a lot of common wasps who ate pests around my garden and happily came for a drink when I came out to water my garden.

This clip shows another species of wasp I came across, the ichneumon. A species that's hard to differentiate between one and the 5,000 known types. The adults are vegetarian, sipping nectar and water, while the larvae are parasitic on a variety of other invertebrates. 🐜🐝🐛

08/08/2021

Found this guy in the power pole next to the garden. I'm surprised he's not the size of a catn with how many wasps are around. If only he could get some of the hornets.

04/08/2021

🐝 When you've taken on a little more than you can handle. 🐝

I love watching the bees visit all my plants while I water first thing in the morning.

02/08/2021

🐝🍅 First tomato harvest of the year. Check out those colours!! Bumble Bee Mix from Love it!! I bought a few pricier seeds for fun and this was one of them, so glad I did. 🍅🐝

12/07/2021

🌱 I've been neglecting my social media while I've been working in the garden this year. I expanded again and started EVERYTHING from seed, a first for me. Finally everything is filling in and beginning to produce food. First up to show off are my Purple Mist Peas from 🌱

So pretty!!

27/04/2021

We've been on our property for 9 years and this is the first time I've seen a short-eared owl.

Recently my interest in birds has been growing so I think its time to invest in a better lens for capturing them. Luckily this owl seemed fine with my presence and allowed me to get close enough to take the shot.

The short-eared owl gets its name from small ear tufts over the eyes. Part of the facial disc these tufts are generally not visible except when females are in camouflage position on their nest or erected when the bird is annoyed or on alert.

26/09/2020

🕸 I always love finding spiders in my garden, they're all so different. 🕷

This guy isn't as cute as the jumping spider I named Bob, but it definitely is cool looking.

09/09/2020

It's been a while since I posted one of the stories I've written for RhPAP, so I thought I would share my latest. This is a great program and one I wish I could have covered in person before COVID. I can't wait to see how it grows and adapts in the years to come.

28/08/2020

🎶 It's the most wonderful time of the year!! 🎶

Can't wait to see what I come up with for dinner after picking my first harvest from the garden.

Fall better stay away so I can get more growing time, this years rain put everything behind.

30/07/2020

🌩 Inaabiwin is the Anishinaabemowin word for lightning 🌩

I'm practicing my storm photography/editing, and the other night we had a short but beautiful storm. Unfortunately the best bolts occurred as I was walking out of the house, but I'm still super happy with how this one turned out.

Love a good light show.

27/06/2020

🐸🌱 Someone had a tough start at life, found this little 1 eyed frog in my garden. Hopefully he sticks around, after I moved the planter he's living in, he's handy in the garden for eating pests. 🌱🐸

13/06/2020

🌱 Chives are great for attracting pollinators to your garden. Common Chives have pink blooms that open early, providing food in the spring when not much else is flowering. 🌱

🐝 This little guy was enjoying some of the chives growing in my garden. This hardy plant is easy to grow and delicious to cook with. 🐝

06/06/2020

I was working in the garden and had to run into the house to get something. As i walked something caught my eye where I was about to step.

Pulling some serious moves I stepped around it and then bent down for a closer look. It was pretty awesome being so close to a dragonfly. I carefully picked it up out of the grass and let it rest in my hand, it was super windy, and then off he went.

Those eyes though!! 👀

21/01/2020

A little image editing humour. lol

14/11/2019

I love having the opportunity to see passionate healthcare workers volunteer their time to educate students. Skills events allow future practitioners to have hands on experience they normally don't get, while introducing them to what rural medicine has to offer.

07/11/2019

07/11/2019

06/10/2019

I'm on the road exploring rural Alberta once again, this time I'm in Sundre.

Fall is an absolutely beautiful time of year and a great time to travel before those pesky white flakes start falling.

Still out in the area, cant wait to see what I discover.

28/09/2019

Already enjoying my time in Drumheller with

I love getting the opportunity to travel around Alberta, seeing just how every rural community adds to this province's beauty.

⛄❄ Might look very different by tomorrow. ❄⛄

16/09/2019

🕷 It always fascinates me how fuzzy insects are. We found this four spotted orb weaver while we were doing some work in the yard. Although orb weavers are common, and I've seen many on our property, I haven't seen any with such a vibrant abdomen in person so I had to take a picture. 🕷

10/09/2019

🐝 This poor little guy got trapped in a squash blossom and seemed to be having trouble with all the rain and cool temperatures.🐝

When I saw him I fetched him out of the flower and brought him inside to dry off and warm up.

After about 15-20 minutes of refusing to get off my finger he flew off to pollenate for another day. Good deed for the day ✔.

🐝

05/09/2019

🐝🌱 The bees are sure enjoying the zucchini blooms this morning. Its been very rainy this summer so there hasn't been much pollenating happening around here. It's nice to finally have some sun and some bees, my garden is certainly loving every minute of it. 🌱🐝

#🐝 🐝

06/08/2019

🐦 We're just a couple of empty nesters now that these little guys have grown up and flown off. It was really quite lovely to watch the process from nest building to moving out. 🐦

The barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the most widespread species of swallow in the world.
A bird of open country, the barn swallow normally uses man-made structures to breed and consequently has spread with human expansion.

01/08/2019

I've been a little behind in sharing my work as of late but here is the latest piece I wrote for Alberta Venture looking at the Sharing Economy.

Here's a look at the evolution of peer-to-peer based companies and the challenges that com

29/06/2019

Mother nature puffing her chest with little follow through. I was excited, waiting for a good show but sadly there was none.

Still pretty neat to watch it move across the sky.

22/04/2019

I've been rather quiet lately but my first mountain hike of the season lined up with Earth Day so I thought I'd share a shot. This is Crescent Falls in the Rocky Mountauns near Clearwater County Alberta.

🌎 Let's all do our part to keep this earth as beautiful as it would be without us. Remember, we only get one shot but the earth will live on. 🌎

29/03/2019

This is my most recent post-production project with Edmonton based Rural Health Professions Action Plan, an important organization that works to attract and retain health professionals in Alberta's rural communities.

Here the organization speaks with Dr Rob Warren, a physician based in Sundre, about how he got into medicine, his goals as RhPAP board chair, and why rural is a great place to live and work.

Camera work and voice over courtesy of RhPAP.
Post-production and script by Lesley Allan Creative Works

12/02/2019

A lot can change over 20 years of business, but for OPA! of Greece it's only lead to success and new ventures.

Check out my latest article for Alberta Venture to learn more about how the quick-service restaurant sees its franchisees as the key to success.

This quick-service restaurant started in a Calgary food court and now boasts 96 locations