Actor Ian Somerhalder starred in popular shows such as Vampire Diaries and Lost. But he left acting behind to embrace life as a farmer. Ultimately, Somerhalder said he found working with his hands and getting dirty to be "more gratifying."
The actor stepped away from Los Angeles five years ago and never looked back.
"People have some corn, and I've got beans," he told E! News last week.
He added, "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."
However, Somerhalder said that he's had a lot of failure when it comes to farming as well. He said not everything he's planted has grown.
Ian Somerhalder Talks Nature
"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."
Ultimately, Somerhalder said he wanted to set a good example for his children and be a role model for them.
"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."
Somerhalder said he wants to teach his kids to embrace nature and that everything exists in balance.
"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."
