When actor Ian Somerhalder decided to step away from acting and embrace his new role as a farmer, it meant getting his hands dirty. But his new endeavor has proven to be bountiful, with the actor admitting that getting back to basics has been “far more gratifying” than his time in Hollywood.
“People have some corn, and I’ve got beans,” he told E! News last week. About five years ago, he and his wife, actress Nikki Reed, moved their family out of Los Angeles and onto a California farm.
“It’s just very cool. It’s like the way it used to be done, and it feels far, and I’m not trying to sound like sort of incendiary or anything, but to me, it’s far more gratifying and feels way more elevated than being all fancy, which is fun too, but at the end of the day, this is where the rubber meets the road and it’s connective.”
‘VAMPIRE DIARIES’ ACTOR IAN SOMERHALDER LEFT HOLLYWOOD TO RAISE KIDS AND 18 PETS ON FARM
Ian Somerhalder says farming “feels way more elevated than being all fancy.” (Natasha Campos/Getty Images for NUTRO™)
And while the farming lifestyle has certainly been rewarding, the “Vampire Diaries” star said it hasn’t come without “a lot of failure.”
“You learn some of the things that you try and plant may not work, but other ones do,” he explained. “And then you get into this system of when the kids are involved and you and then your community’s involved, and then you find yourself living this really cool sharing, bartering system with your neighbors.”
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Ian Somerhalder admitted making the transition from acting to farming came with “a lot of failure.” (Ian Somerhalder Instagram)
Involving his kids in the lifestyle was a conscious choice, as Somerhalder said he and Reed find it important to teach their two young children strong values in the context of community and nature.
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“What my parents taught us very early is, if you look around, there is a balance in nature,” he told the outlet. “If you give back as much or more than you take, then you will find an enormous bounty of health and happiness and success and all these things that people want and dream.”
Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder were married in 2015. (Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images)
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“That’s what we teach our kids and our friends teach their kids, is to be respectful of the balance and really appreciate that balance and live that balance. And with that balance comes boundless harmony and boundless food and energy and fun and all those things that we want, but you can’t just take and take and take. It doesn’t work.”
Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder have a daughter and son together. (Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty Images)
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In January, Somerhalder told the outlet that he had no regrets about transitioning away from Hollywood. “I loved what I did for a really long time,” he said. “I don’t miss any of it. I love making films, and I just did it for so long. We had an amazing run.”