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envirojen.bsky.social
Jen
@envirojen.bsky.social
4.1K followers 780 following 4.6K posts
Urban-parenting and #KidicalMassHFX
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envirojen.bsky.social
Notes from the dog, via the kid.
A large yellow post-it note on the arm of a brown leather couch. The note reads: “if you sit on the couch you have to pat the r dog”.
November 14, 2025 at 12:39 AM
envirojen.bsky.social
Mid November and the DeeDee’s bike rack is gone. It lasted a month. #BikeHfx
A photo of a street, with cars and a bike parked near the curb. A white car is parked within a paint outline on the asphalt, and a bike is parked in front of it. The white paint outline used to demarcate a spot for bicycle parking, which has now been removed.
November 7, 2025 at 9:23 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
His reply was an image which depicts his own facial expression in response to this news.
A cartoon image of a rock, anthropomorphized with a disappoint facial expression. The image is watermarked “PeppermintPopUK”.
November 6, 2025 at 4:04 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
#BikeHfx and #KidicalMassHfx: please BOLO for Barb’s bike, stolen from Quingate area. It’s her kid-carrying machine!
A screen cap from Instagram, by @BarbabaJean82. “Hali pals: My bike was stolen from the rack outside our building 😭. I don’t have a pic, but this is a similar model. It has a black Thule child seat on the rear rack.” There is an image of a white e-bike above the text.
November 2, 2025 at 10:03 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
For the gardening record: today (2025 November 02) is the official end of my backyard garden cherry tomatoes.

I said I wouldn’t harvest them this year, but I became intrigued by a recipe for green tomato jam. That might be tomorrow’s project.
An abundance of green cherry tomatoes in a large wooden bowl.
November 2, 2025 at 9:44 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
Modelling the kiddo’s Halloween costume, in exchange for treats.

Happy (almost) Halloween from this Labrador in a wolf suit!
A black Labrador retriever dog is laying on a brown leather couch. She is looking at the camera, and wearing a white furry hood with attached ears, that stick up. Her face sticks out through a hole in the hood. The hood is meant to be part of a child’s arctic wolf costume.
October 30, 2025 at 2:55 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
My new front rack crate was perfect for carrying home this (very swaddled) pumpkin on my #TernHSD e-bike.
A black plastic crate on the front rack of a bicycle. Inside the crate are jackets and sweaters swaddling a large pumpkin. Leaves and asphalt sidewalk are visible in the background, and the edge of bike handlebars can also be seen in the bottom of the photo.
October 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
We have a #BikeHfx Bingo game we have used as a post-ride activity: one for kids and one for grown-ups. Maybe there are some ideas here?
A Bingo Card with 9 spaces. The topic is "Bike Bingo, find someone who..." and the squares are: - has attended a Critical Mass ride - gets groceries by bike - has ridden across the MacDonald bridge - has phoned a friend to help with a flat tire - uses studded tires on their bikes during the winter - is/has been the 'Halifax Bicycle Mayor' - has lived in a more bike-friendly place - takes their bike(s) on vacation/when they travel In the centre, there is also a free space with a cartoon image of a child on a bike saying "holy crap bikes are fun!". A bike bingo card, which contains 12 squares. Each square contains an image of a different kind of bike (e.g. cargo bike, trike, etc).
October 20, 2025 at 1:14 AM
envirojen.bsky.social
You know you’ve preordered your copy of ‘Life After Cars’ from the right place when you arrive to pick it up and the bike parking greets you like this:

Thanks @kingsbookstore.bsky.social and @thewaroncars.bsky.social
A copy of the book ‘Life after cars: freeing ourselves from the tyranny of the automobile” on the front rack of a bicycle. A very full bike parking station, on a concrete pad, next to a tree and a stone wall. There are 5 bikes parked at it, many of which have helmets attached. One bike has a child seat affixed to it. Another bike parking station on a concrete pad, with 3 bikes parked at it, including two cargo bikes. The rack is next to a stone wall and there is some industrial equipment parked behind the rack.
October 17, 2025 at 8:14 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
Here’s 11 year old Jody in a canoe last weekend at Keji. This was taken after we coaxed her back into the boat: she jumped out to go for a swim, and pulled us ashore earlier in the trip. 😂
A wet black Labrador Retriever dog laying in a canoe, next to a dock. A child’s legs can be seen in the background.
October 12, 2025 at 3:43 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
Mid-October and the Deedee’s bike rack has finally arrived in #BikeHfx. It’s just in time for ice cream with a jacket season!🍦
A bike corral on an asphalt street. The area surrounding the corral is outlined with a white painted line on the asphalt, and green flex posts marking. A blue e-cargo bike is parked at one of the corrals. A car, some trees, and some houses are in the background.
October 10, 2025 at 7:13 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
If anyone knows the caretaker of the #Halisky COLT fairy house, please provide accolades on my behalf.

They have spruced up this magical little house with: a fresh coat of paint; a newly shingled roof; floral decor; and a new front door with a tiny latch. It looks better than ever.
A small wooden fairy house sitting atop some rocks. The house has a wooden front door with a tiny metal latch and decorative stones above. The front of the house has three round glass windows. Wooden window boxes on the house have painted pink flowers above them. There is a purple awning above the windows, and a yellow sun decoration above that. The base of the roof is green, with tiny cedar shingles attached to it to create a realistic looking roof.
September 30, 2025 at 12:05 AM
envirojen.bsky.social
Happy Monday morning #BikeHfx!

The kid found a good spot for his #BikeGoodMayorBad sticker.
A child is wearing a red bike helmet with a sticker that says “Bikes Good Mayor Bad”. The photo is mostly of the front/top of the child’s helmet, but the child’s nose and lips are also visible. The child is wearing a grey jacket and green sweatpants.
September 29, 2025 at 1:05 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
Attn #BikeHfx & #Halisky & #KidicalMassHfx, especially if you live in District 8 (Halifax Peninsula North).

There is a Participatory Budgeting event in D8 on Thursday, 6-8pm in Maritime Hall at the Halifax Forum, and we need your votes to get new bike racks for St Catherine’s School!

1/3
A photo of a “schoolyard” style bike rack on a grassy hill, outside a school. A hand full of of kids bikes are parked on the rack, but very few are locked to it.
September 23, 2025 at 1:52 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
Rather than come and fix this mess, the bike/scooter company has placed unlock credits on many of the devices in this pile up.

Disentangling this mess is definitely not worth $1 to me.
A messy pile of rental e-bikes and e-scooters, on the grass inside a city park. In order to use any of these devices, someone would have to disentangle them from each other. A screenshot from the Bird Canada app, showing the location of several e-bikes and e-scooters, some of which are marked with a $ sign, indicating a user credit for unlocking and using the devices.
September 21, 2025 at 12:45 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
2025 Grape harvest (part 1): a few weeks earlier than usual, thanks to the drought.
Small round green grapes on the stem, in a clear plastic container.
September 14, 2025 at 8:42 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
Attention #BikeHfx: there is a hazard posing as a ramp in the Hollis St bike lane, outside the MetroPark. The transition from asphalt to wooden ramp is really abrupt here. It was very uncomfortable at 10km/hr on my cargo bike, and some of my market groceries didn’t survive the bump.
A wooden ramp leading to a wooden tunnel in a bike lane on a street. A cargo bike is parked within the wooden tunnel.
September 6, 2025 at 12:14 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
Celebrating the 🌧️: 62mm or 2.5” of rain in my gauge, in the west end of Halifax. My rain barrels are nearly full!
An orange plastic rain gauge sticking out of an old tree stump, with grass in the background. The rain gauge has both metric and imperial markings, and is filled to 2.5 inches or 6.3 millimetres.
August 26, 2025 at 10:23 AM
envirojen.bsky.social
We made a garlic and rosemary flatbread with our take-home dough. It was delicious.
Triangular slices of flatbread in a white bowl on a wooden table.
August 25, 2025 at 11:42 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
The dog turned 11 years old today, so we celebrated with the yearly ice cream cake from DeeDee’s.

This year’s flavour is: vanilla cake and caramel swirl ice cream, covered in banana cardamom ice cream and caramel sauce.

Here’s Jody, patiently waiting for a slice.
A person in a blue shirt and grey shorts is standing at a kitchen counter. A large black dog watches the person closely. The dog is standing in front of the fridge, with face oriented to the kitchen counter. A dog is laying on the kitchen floor, and looking upward at a human, who is not pictured. The dog is waiting patiently for the slice of ice cream cake, which is in a bowl on the floor in front of her. Another view of a dog laying on the kitchen floor, and looking upward at a human, who is not pictured. The dog is still waiting patiently for the slice of ice cream cake, which is in a bowl on the floor in front of her.
August 11, 2025 at 4:46 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
Here it is with a large cooler on the front, holding freezies and popsicles for kiddo’s birthday party a couple of weeks ago.
A large blue hard-case cooler on the front rack of an e-cargo bike. It is attached with bungee cords. A large blue hard-case cooler on the front rack of an e-cargo bike. It is attached with bungee cords. Some yellow children’s toy trucks are in the background on a wooden deck.
August 3, 2025 at 6:14 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
So many people talking about kids, and their future.
Page 161 just made tear up a bit.
The text of an email, which reads: Dear Councillor St-Amand, My 5-year-old just learned to ride a bike without training wheels this month. He's been loving biking to daycare and I've been telling him stories about how fun it was to bike around Montreal when I lived there. Now he's asking when we can go so he can see try it for himself. Halifax has the potential to be that kind of city too — one where kids grow up loving to move through their community, safely and independently. Pausing bike lanes sets us on the wrong path to become a memorable place where it's fun to get around. Please vote against the motion to pause bike lanes. Sincerely,
July 29, 2025 at 8:39 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
The initial response from Bird was something like “it’s hard to find another spot” in this location.

So I sent along this map. The red circle is the current “nest” and the blue is my suggestion.
A screen cap from Google maps, showing the corner of Spring Garden and South Park. The map has been marked up with a red circle and a blue circle in the furniture zones of the sidewalk.
July 26, 2025 at 1:17 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
Hey #BikeHfx. I’ve asked Bird to move their nest, which currently blocks the Public Gardens bike racks.

I’m not down there super often, so let me know if you notice any change? It’s pretty hard to park a cargo bike here right now.
The corner of Spring Garden Rd and South Park St in Halifax. Empty bike racks on the sidewalk are abutted by a micromobility share parking zone. The zone is delineated with white tape and several blue e-bikes are parked within it.
July 26, 2025 at 1:17 PM
envirojen.bsky.social
Beautiful box of basil by bike! My favourite farmer emailed me on Thursday to ask if I wanted to make pesto soon.

He brought me 3kg of basil this morning, so I made sure my front rack was clear to carry it home. The rest of my market haul (not pictured) went in the ‘trunk’: my Tern HSD StormBox.
The front rack of a blue midtail e-cargo bike, with a large cardboard box bungeed to it. The bike is parked on a wooden deck. A look inside the large cardboard box: a plastic bag contains basil, recently harvested.
July 19, 2025 at 2:26 PM