When actor Ian Somerhalder decided to step away from acting to take on a new role as a farmer, it meant getting into the dirt. But his new endeavor turned out to be a fruitful one, and he admits that going back to basics has been “much more satisfying” than his time in Hollywood.
“Everybody's got corn, but I've got beans,” he said. E! News About five years ago, he and his wife, actress Nikki Reed, left Los Angeles with their family and moved to a ranch in California.
“It's really cool. It feels old-fashioned in an old-fashioned way. Not to sound sensational, but to me it's so much more satisfying and so much more elevated than doing something flashy. Flashy things are fun, but at the end of the day, this is about practice and connection.”
'Vampire Diaries' actor Ian Somerhalder leaves Hollywood to raise kids and 18 pets on farm
Ian Somerhalder says farming “feels so much more noble than the fancy life.” (Natasha Campos/Getty Images via NUTRO™)
While farming life has certainly been rewarding, the “Vampire Diaries” star said it's also been full of failures.
“They learn that some of the things they plant don't work, but some do,” he explained, “and they enter into a system that involves them, that involves their community, and they find themselves living in a really wonderful system of sharing and bartering with their neighbors.”
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Ian Somerhalder admits that making the switch from acting to farming came with “a lot of failures.” (Ian Somerhalder Instagram)
Involving their children in this lifestyle was a conscious choice, as Somerhalder and Reed say it was important to them to instill strong values of community and nature in their two young children.
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“What my parents taught me at an early age is that if you look around you, there is a balance in nature,” he told the outlet. “If you give back as much or more as you take, you will be rewarded with great things like health, happiness, success and all the things people hope for and dream of.”
Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder married in 2015. (Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images)
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“What we teach our kids, and what our friends teach their kids, is to respect balance, to really value that balance, and live in that balance. And with that balance comes unlimited harmony, unlimited food, unlimited energy, unlimited fun, and everything we want. But you can't just take, take, take, take. That doesn't work.”
Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder have a daughter and a son. (Greg DeGuire/Variety via Getty Images)
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In January, Somerhalder told the outlet that he had no regrets about leaving Hollywood. “I loved what I did for a long time,” he said. “I don't miss anything. I loved making movies and I did it for a long time. Those were great days.”
