Yunding Ranch

Chapter 40 Planning the Blueprint
Lu Li carried the blueprint of the ranch down the stairs, and after walking a few steps, he heard Teddy's cry, and then Grapefruit and Grape also followed the crowd, making noisiness and joy.

Putting the blueprint on his shoulder, Lu Li saw Teddy standing up and shouting excitedly at him. Lu Li couldn't help thinking of Teddy's actions just now, so, did Teddy fall in love with the blueprint again? "No, Teddy! I told you just now, no!" Lu Li quickly scolded.

Teddy yelled again, and finally, under Lu Li's firm gaze, he climbed back to the ground resignedly, seemingly disappointed. The grapefruit and grape next to him were still spinning around excitedly for unknown reasons. Cole After shouting a few words, the two little guys settled down, "Teddy always likes to bite paper, I don't know why, and I will keep the important information in the future."

Cole's explanation made Lu Li suddenly realize, "You should have reminded me earlier." The joking expression made Cole understand in a blink of an eye, and he laughed out loud.

The two of them laid out the blueprints on the dining table, "I have some preliminary ideas, but I'm not sure. You can chime in at any time to make comments, and then we can discuss it." Lu Li explained, and Cole He simply nodded in affirmation.

"Here in the north, I want to get rid of the corn and potatoes, we don't have a lot of production, and there are a lot of pastures that grow corn and potatoes locally. I think it can be changed to vegetable land, but I'm not sure here. If necessary, we can build greenhouses, but it would be best if we could plant different vegetables according to the seasons and grow naturally.”

After Lu Li finished speaking, he saw Cole opened his mouth, hesitating to speak, "What? What's your opinion?" Lu Li took the initiative to ask, encouraging Cole to express his opinion.

"No, I'm just a little surprised that you actually want to grow vegetables." Cole shrugged, "You should know that the sales of vegetables are not very good, right?"

The staple foods in North America are corn and potatoes, followed by meat, especially beef and pork.Their need for vegetables is so low that many refuse to eat vegetables, even as a side dish on a steak plate.This is also the root cause of the unaddressed obesity problem in North America—their diet structure is like this.

It's like when Lu Li first came to the United States, he ordered a glass of boiling water in a restaurant, but was despised by the wait staff.He asked his classmates later, and only then did he know that the drinks in the restaurant here can be divided into two types, alcoholic and non-alcoholic. If it is non-alcoholic, then either sparkling water or cola, there is no third choice-obviously Nobody wanted sparkling water, so Coke seemed like their only option if alcohol wasn't an option.

Americans know it increases obesity, so they fool themselves into choosing Diet Coke.

Lu Li is Chinese. Although he is also a carnivore, he also likes seafood and vegetables very much.Cole's subtext is that if you grow corn and potatoes, you can sell them for money and eat them yourself, but vegetables are more difficult.

"Do you know how much a bowl of salad costs in New York?" Lu Li didn't answer directly, but asked rhetorically.

"Two dollars?" Cole shrugged. In Austin's supermarket, a large bag of vegetables only cost two dollars, and no one wanted to buy the entire container.

"Fifteen dollars." Lu Li's answer made Cole's jaw dislocate, because a medium-quality steak is only ten dollars.Lu Li couldn't help laughing, "Nowadays people are paying more and more attention to health, and more and more people in big cities are choosing to be vegetarian, so the price of vegetables is actually going up. Here in Texas, no one wants to eat Vegetables, but after being transported to big cities, the price can double several times.”

"But what about the transportation fee?" Although Cole is not a business talent, he still understands the basics. "And our output will not be too large."

Lu Li nodded, "I plan to ask the professionals next, if possible, we can grow organic vegetables here, and then see if we can reach a cooperation with Whole Foods Market. Even if it doesn't work, it's good for us to eat ourselves."

Whole Foods Market has been established for more than 30 years. Its signature is that all the ingredients in it are organic food. In recent years, it has become extremely popular, especially in big cities on both sides of the coast.Hollywood stars almost exclusively shop at Whole Foods.Of course, being organic means expensive. For the same ingredients, the price of Whole Foods Market is two to three times that of other supermarkets. Therefore, Whole Foods Market is also considered one of the symbols of the middle class.

Cole has always been here in New Braunfels, and although there are three Whole Foods stores in Austin, it is too far away for them, and it is also territory they will never set foot in.

Originally, Cole wanted to say "Whole Foods is too hypocritical", but after hearing Lu Li's explanation, he couldn't help swallowing a few mouthfuls of saliva, "Could it be that vegetables are more profitable than beef?"

Lu Li pursed his lips, "If it's possible to cooperate with Whole Foods, then, yes." After waiting for a while, Cole seemed to be still digesting the shocking news. His worldview and values ​​had obviously been impacted, just like Lu Li Same as the first $[-] salad.

"The land next to it, I agree with you, it should continue to be used as a horse farm. We can try to breed some horses for rodeos, but the main ones are riding horses." Lu Li's explanation made Cole nod his head to express his understanding. , This is his major, and Cole naturally has no problem, "And this one, I plan to plant vineyards."

Cole opened his mouth slightly, but this time without hesitation, "Start from scratch? This means that we will have no income in the first year; whether there will be a harvest in the second year, whether wine can be made, depends on the rain. , the state of the soil, and the risk is not too great?"

Lu Li breathed out lightly, "This is just a plan. Next, let's send the soil and water quality to be tested to see how it has changed over the years." It is not sure how much the spring water will affect the grapes, and when the amount needs to be controlled, every step needs to be more cautious.In fact, the same is true for organic vegetables, and spring water is his backing.

"However, I'm already mentally prepared. In the first year, we will cultivate them well." Lu Li gave a definite answer, "I met a friend in New York, who is an expert in wine, and I invited him over. Let’s investigate the specific situation and ask the experts before we can talk about it.”

Lu Li's calmness and thoughtfulness far exceeded Cole's expectations. He thought young people were idealistic, but now it seemed that Lu Li had done enough preparation. He couldn't help scratching his head, "If we can replant grapes If so, of course it's a good thing. Liz will be very happy, I'm just worried..."

Worried that Lu Li didn't have enough funds, he invested indiscriminately, and in the end it was nothing.

Lu Li smiled, "I know." Cole truly regarded the ranch as his own home, so he wholeheartedly wanted the ranch to develop smoothly. It was a correct decision to keep Cole at the beginning, "The lavender field... ...I intend to stay."

Cole hesitated for a moment, but he still didn't refute. Although he knew that it would be a loss to leave the lavender field, it was where Liz spent the most effort, and he didn't want to harvest it directly.

It is not only a memory of Liz, but also a tourist attraction.

In fact, Lu Li didn't have a strong sense of belonging to the western cowboys, so he was very happy to transform the ranch into a paradise to attract tourists to come here for vacation.His goal is not to be an attraction for large groups of tourists, but a sightseeing for families and friends, where they enjoy vacations, experience cowboy life, experience country life, and even let them harvest vegetables, cook dinner, Enjoy the wine.

Riding horses is the same consideration, as are organic vegetables and lavender, and further, wine is the same starting point.It really allows these tourists to feel the comfort and leisure of high-quality life.

"Here, some fish fry can be raised in the lake, and those who are interested can go fishing or go boating." The last link of Lu Li's plan is still around tourism. Of course, part of it is also his own selfishness. After all, there is an obsession that cannot be given up on seafood and river fresh food. Who said that only meat can be eaten in Greater Texas!

In addition, if there is a chance, you can also raise some animals such as alpacas, antelopes, and bison. Thinking about setting up a target shooting entertainment facility, it's a pity not to play with guns in Texas, but he hasn't got his green card yet, and he doesn't know if he can open a shooting range with his green card. He can ask "Brother Crossbow" Justin another day— —he owns a shooting range.

"Do you have any comments?" Lu Li looked at Cole with a questioning look.

Cole thought about it seriously, "The top priority is to buy horses and breed them, so that we can catch up with the cowboy convention in May next year; then, we need to buy some more sheep and cattle, and the number of them is too small now. There are 640 three sheep, and only 110 six cattle, especially the cattle, at least [-] heads are required, and [-] heads is the best. If you only rely on the income source of the sheep flock, I am afraid that there will be no The method lasted too long."

Cole was still worried about Lu Li's financial problem, so the first thing to do was to solve it first.

Lu Li nodded, "No problem. You can see when you are free, and we can go straight away." Thinking of the string of numbers in the bank card, he felt a lot more at ease. Sure enough, he still has money and does not panic, "Yes Well, I still need to buy a pickup."

Lu Li's resolute action stunned Cole. He couldn't help but wonder, could it be that Lu Li is a rich second generation?He wanted to think about it, but out of the habit of respecting privacy, he didn't ask, "Tomorrow. Tomorrow there will be a market in the next town. It is most convenient to buy and sell there. Otherwise, they will come to you one by one. , that would be troublesome."

"Then tomorrow!" Lu Li made a decision.

(End of this chapter)