So I should preface my holiday cookbook guide with perhaps unstartling news: I’ve been told by my endocrinologist that it’s time to give up being a vegan.

Let’s face it; very few manufacturers will put good intentions ahead of a solid bottom line. The appearance of eco-friendly labels in recent decades has raised the awareness among consumers of the methods that many clothing manufacturers use.

Egg production requires large numbers of healthy laying hens, so animal welfare has always been a crucial issue for the egg industry. However, the topic has taken on new importance of late, spurred by rising consumer consciousness of how farm animals are treated before they (or their byproducts) end up on Americans’ plates.

Ayrshire Farm in Upperville is a working farm specializing in rare livestock, including heritage turkeys, Shire horses, Gloucester old spot pigs and Scotch Highland cattle.

The Prather Ranch stands in the shadows of Mount Shasta in Northern California up close to the Oregon border.  If successful ranching, like most everything else, is a matter of ‘location, location, location,’ it can’t get any better than this.  It starts with a near perfect climate for raising forage as well as cattle and it ends the day with close-by access to great markets for their organically raised beef.