CreaSol Permaculture Good Newsletter

Stay up to date with the latest news in the world of permaculture, ecology, and earth-healing living.

Notes From An Unusual Life

Hollywood, Hopelessness, and Why I Think LA Can Be Saved

The Hardest Part of Restoring a Lake Isn’t the Engineering

Aug 3, 2026

Technically, saving Lake Atitlán is within our grasp. In fact it’s really quite simple. That might sound like an outrageous statement when you’ve seen the algae blooms, the polluted beaches and the…

Notes From An Unusual Life

Jun 23, 2026

Hollywood, Hopelessness and Why I Think LA Can Be Saved

I'm on the way back from LA today. It's always a strange journey. I leave beautiful Lake Atitlán and the quiet indigenous village I call home, drive across...

What Mold, Horses, Wetlands, and First Principles Taught Me This Week

Oct 14, 2025

It's been a busy one. As ever, most of the inspiration I draw for these articles comes directly from the field — from the real work I do as a designer, walking land, reading landscapes, and listening to people's dreams. This week, I had the pleasure of diving into a project with Marie, one of our...

Bananas, Bloodlines & the Cost of Comfort

Jul 23, 2025

Bananas have fascinated me for years. Not the fruit itself—though they are wonderful—but everything they represent. The systems behind them. The stories. The hidden costs. The bloodlines. It started when I first went to Guatemala and learned that it was the original banana republic. I rememb...

Discover Your Design — Don't Force It

Jul 19, 2025

There's a story we're often told about vision. That's something we must generate. That the future is a thing to be invented, hammered out of nothing, as though creativity comes from effort alone. But when you look closely at artists, at nature, at life itself, you start to see something else...

What a Master Farmer Taught Me This Week

May 16, 2025

Why Real Solutions Start With Real Problems (Not Just Pretty Designs)

This week, I had the huge honor of being called in as an advisor by my friend and mentor Alex Kronick — founder of Caoba Farms, (insert link to caoba farms website) in my opinion the best farm-to-table restaurant in Central Am...

Dreaming of a new Irish Landscape

May 07, 2025

When I left Ireland in 2008 I was still a boy. I've worked for most of the last 15 years in Guatemala, as a Permaculture designer, builder and farmer. My partners and I built Granja Tz'ikin, a diverse permaculture farm, in which we have integrated goats, chickens, food forests, native trees, bamb...

Lessons Learned from a Decade as an Irish Permaculture Designer, Farmer, and Entrepreneur in Guatemala

May 07, 2025

My name is Neal Hegarty. I am a 42-year-old Irish man who has spent most of the last decade in Guatemala. As I write this article, I find myself on the deck of our farm-to-table restaurant,(Granja Tz'ikin, granjatzikin.com) overlooking the breath-taking Lake Atitlan. The sunlight dances on the wa...

Why Salmon Swim Upstream

May 07, 2025

In school they teach us about Entropy, or more specifically about the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the total entropy or disorder of any system always increases over time. In other words energy always flows down. This law is applicable to everything, no matter how big or small....

The Blueprint for Regenerative Abundance For aspiring regenerative designers and changemakers

Apr 07, 2025

When people think about permaculture, they usually picture gardens. Or compost. Or chickens. But when I think about permaculture, I think about freedom. For years, I was doing the work I loved—helping people design homesteads, farms, and eco-communities. I was living the dream. And yet...

Join Me and Other Like Minds on Regeneration Pollinations Speed Networking!

Mar 07, 2025

I wanted to personally invite you to an exciting Speed Networking Event happening today! I'll be joining live from the gardens of Tz'ikin Atitlán, Guatemala, where I've spent the last 15 years designing profitable permaculture projects and helping eco-entrepreneurs turn their visio...

Getting to the Root of the Meat Debate: The Agreements We Must First Make

Mar 05, 2025

Before we can have an honest conversation about meat—about whether humans should eat it, about whether it is ethical or sustainable—we need to establish a foundation. If we cannot agree on certain fundamental truths, then the discussion is not worth having. This is not a debate where facts alone ...

A Journey Back to Faith, Purpose, and Creation

Dec 27, 2024

They say never talk about religion… but here goes. This is my coming-out piece. I believe in Jesus—not just as a historical figure, but as a living metaphor for the divine power of imagination, creativity, and sacrifice. For most of my life, I rejected religion outright. Growing up in conservat...