Meet the Team

Meet the faces behind our journey to cultivate sustainable and regenerative systems. Discover their unique backgrounds, passions, and contributions to our mission of a sustainable future.

Permanent members – The Pigadians

Meet Jules

Jules is the founder and dreamer of Dio Pigadia. Coming from a background in academia, studying sociology and political philosophy, he came from the library not the land. Sitting at a desk with a computer he felt the need for the outdoors and left the office for the sea, teaching sailing lessons and repairing boats in France. Working in shipyards he learnt essential manual skills that would prove valuable in his future at the farm. He eventually set sail solo across the world exploring different places and new cultures. Feeling a responsibility and duty to the earth and guided by a desire to grow his roots, he dreamt up Dio Pigadia. The project focuses on an alternate way of living, and co-creating a better future together. The volunteers started to come by themselves, guided by a similar philosophy in the face of the ecological crisis. Dio Pigadia is a community-based ever-growing project. Education, ecology and living together are the key pillars we experience and share. If you can’t find Jules, he’ll be rummaging in the tip for up-cycled materials or conversing with the donkey — Vouno.

Role: Manager, Social media, Volunteer coordination

Stay: October 2018 — Present

Favourite activity on the farm: Dreaming about the future of the farm

Why did you come here? A mix of destiny, luck and love.

Favourite quote: “The tragic reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed by those who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political power over them. We should cease to look for power structures, hierarchical systems or governments to help us and devise ways to help ourselves.”- Bill Mollison

Meet Argyro

Originally from Crete, Greece, Argyro studied theory and history of art in Athens. After living in the city for a few years, she started volunteering in different eco projects around Europe before deciding to come to Dio Pigadia. Being a vinyasa and hatha yoga teacher, Argyro offers yoga workshops for the volunteers on the farm twice a week. Furthermore, she takes care of the gardens and the rental cottages. She loves photography and sailing. You will most likely find her with the farm dogs; Skoni and Skordo or cooking and baking outstanding food.

Role: Garden maintenance, taking care of cottages, bread making

Stay: February 2024 — Present

Favourite activity on the farm: Teaching yoga and taking care of the dogs.

Why did you come here? I wanted to live as part of a community close to nature.

Favourite quote: I don´t like quotes 😉

Meet Vaso

Coming from the urban jungle of Kallithea, Greece, Vaso wanted change her lifestyle to be closer to nature and be apart of communal living. She strongly believes that the fast-paced modern living is not conducive to environmental or physical health. A desire to depart from that lifestyle brought her to Dio Pigadia. With her Master degree in Global Environmental change, Vaso wants to live harmoniously with nature and takes every step towards sustainable living. She loves any kind of movement and practices pole dancing whenever she gets the chance. Her love of animals draws her to the horse and donkey pen, taking them out for a walk every day. If you can’t find Vaso she’ll be chasing after her cheeky dog — Darma.

Role: Administration, Nectar Rentals

Stay: November 2023 — Present

Favourite activity on the farm: Taking the horse and donkey on a walk or exercising.

Why did you come here? It’s always been my dream to be close to nature and connected to the land living a communal lifestyle.

Favourite quote: “Be the good you want to see in the world.”

Decision making

Dio Pigadia is a self-organized and co-creative project! This means that all the decisions are made through assemblies in which all involved persons who will be affected by the decision take part. We have 2 main weekly assemblies the Feedback meeting and the Organizational meeting.

Get to know the amazing individuals and their stories who volunteered throughout Greece.

Read the Story of Didi and Nini being at Yamochori.

Read the Story of James and his stay at the Greek Orthodox Monastery.

Read the Story of Camille being at Kathy´s Island Retreat.

Read the Story of Manos staying at a permaculture farm in Vrisi.

Read the Story of Sarah and Anders being at Candili Natural organic farm.

Read the Story of Clementine being at a COB Eco village.

What others think about us

Didi Stoepman ★★★★★ 5 months ago
I spent 3 days as volunteer at Dio Pigadia and it was a memorable experience! It’s amazing how the community runs the farm, educate the newcomers and are … More able to sustain the landscape and all its beauty products in such a nurturing way. The people on the farm are super warm and welcoming, the space is clean, the homemade meals are amazing and everybody is kind in educating about how the farm is operating. Can’t wait to come back!
Monica Vargas ★★★★★ 4 months ago
Fantastic place and lovely community, it is really nice to have had the experience to join it for a bit and be I touch with nature, organic food and beautiful … More people. cannot recommend it enough :)
Soizic Brun ★★★★★ 8 months ago
Amazing place where you can explore sustainable practices including composting, mulching, wood work, lacto-fermentation, low-technologies... in an interacting … More community. Jules is very willing to share his knowledge with you and explore shared governance. Don't miss this opportunity to live an off-grid experience.
We learn as we wander ★★★★★ a year ago
My daughter and I only wanted to visit Dio Pigadia for one afternoon but we ended up staying three weeks. It was a truly great experience for us and we … More both enjoyed taking care of the animals, gardens and veggies on the farm and fell in love with this little paradise. We ate daily together with the other volunteers amazing fresh meals with very tasty vegetables from the garden, helped out at a beach clean up event and even went sailing together.
Saying goodbye was a hard one here but we both know for sure we want to come back, so it's only bye for now and thank you for everything Jules.
Lia, Jenny and Tito
Marjal Sykora ★★★★★ a year ago
Dio Pigadia is a very beautiful place between olive trees. The month we was there was the best time of our trip through Greece and south europe. Jules … More is very friendly and he work at this project with all his possibilities and love. Also it was nice to known all the nice people and this way of life. I can tell recommend to go to this place and this people and see how life can work in a good way.
Thanks for this experience Jules
P. S. you should try the comfortable compost toilet ;) it's perfect.
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Yarden Haik ★★★★★ 6 months ago
We’ve stayed for a week in dio pigadia with my family as active guests. Our stay was beyond expectations. Stunning and comfortable place while it brings … More you back to basics. Thanks to the amazing staff and volunteers, we very fast felt part of the community. We highly recommend for a special experience in Peloponnese. All the family will take away something and reconnect with the essential laws of nature.
Jessie van Hattum ★★★★★ 5 months ago
What a great place! We came across Dio Pegidda online and Jules took all the time to show us around and answer our questions. It’s a community based ecological … More farm that really takes care of the land. We visited more projects in and around Greece and at Dio Peggida they realized a lot in just 6 years. Thanks Jules for the inspiring afternoon and we’re curious to return in a couple of years to see the progress!
Yasmeen Ishaq ★★★★★ 4 months ago
What a breath of fresh air! Fantastic community effort and the host, Jules has done amazing work in regenerative permaculture work, super cute friendly … More animals, dogs, cat, pony and even a donkey. The love and care is evident. Tiny little shop with yummy goodies and super cool accommodation for a real feel of a getaway. Off beaten track. I will be back! Well done Dio Pigadia team
Soffi Sandkühler ★★★★★ 7 months ago
A wonderful farm with wonderful people.
The vision of the place and the way that they think realistically about permaculture and self sustainability is … More inspiring!
So if you get the chance to go there you should definitely go and enjoy your visit there!
The area is amazing and the olives trees in combination with the wild see is a dream come true 🤩
Menno ★★★★★ 5 months ago
Joke and I had a holiday on the Pelopenesos. We stayed in Pylos and did some hiking and visiting archeological sites. Since our daughter and son in-law … More have a biodynamic vegetable farm in the Netherlands we googled on bio-farm. We had a hit for Dio Pigadia Farm. Perma-culture was the key word here. Since we know something about the filosofie of permaculture we made contact with Jules. We visited the place for a few hours. Warmly welcomed we had a tour around the property with a lot of information and explanation. A really inspiring place where you can really dive into sustainable living in every aspect. Great respect for the people there, who have founded a nucleus with great potency and expectation. Good luck and thank you for your dedication.
Joke and Menno