The other dangerous garden catalog

arrived today, from Lee Valley Tools. I first encountered this amazing Canadian company when I was starting out in woodworking. I was reading their catalog at a conference, marveling at this tool company in Upstate New York, when a friend of mine from Ottawa pointed out that they were really a Canadian company, but had a U.S. warehouse for more convenient shipping.

They pretty much ensured I'd stay a customer a bit later - a few months after I'd bought a tool from them, I got a check in the mail - they'd lowered the price since and were sending me a refund!

Angelika's happy to see that they list a cultivator that she's used to seeing in Germany but hadn't found in the US so far. I'm interested in some hoes I read about in the Four-Season Harvest, but I'm trying to avoid my usual tool frenzy if I can.

My one major wish is that they had stores here in the U.S. They do have a shipping warehouse up in Ogdensburg, but apparently no storefront. I've been to their stores in Ottawa and Toronto, which are both kind of like catalog shopping in a store. You see the samples, ask questions, pick what you want, and the staff picks your order out of the attached warehouse. They're definitely worth a trip if you're ever in a city where they have stores. (I also wish they had a store in Montreal, the one Canadian city I visit semi-regularly.)

It's also funny to me how I find tool catalogs kind of calming, even when they're huge, while I find seed catalogs overwhelming. I'm not sure what that's about.