Ian Somerhalder Shares an Important Lesson He's Teaching His Kids

Ian Somerhalder is passing down valuable family lessons to his own kids.

The Vampire Diaries alum, who shares two children with wife Nikki Reed, emphasizes the importance of "building connection within the community" and giving back.

"What my parents taught us very early is, if you look around, there is a balance in nature," Ian told E! News at pet food company's Nutro's Pawtail Hour event in Los Angeles, Sept. 12, " 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."

The 45-year-old continued, "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."

Several years ago, Ian and Nikki, 36, put their acting careers on the back burner and moved with their kids to a California farm. The actor, who shares with his wife a passion for the environment and living a sustainable life, had told E! News in November that they produce most of their own food.

But the transition to becoming a farmer wasn't easy. Ian said there was "a lot of failure" involved.

"You learn some of the things that you try and plant may not work, but other ones do," he said in his latest interview. "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."

Ian continued, "People have some corn, and I've got beans. And 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."

The Lost alum's latest interview took place two days before he hosted a farmer's market for dogs in Los Angeles as part of his partnership with Nutro, which had in 2022 launched a $5 million commitment to help train and support growers in the implementation of healthy soil practices.

One of Ian and Nikki's dogs, Nietzsche—a stray he rescued after a day of filming The Vampire Diaries in 2013—, accompanied him to both the farmer's market and his interview.

"Are you eating kale?" he asked her at the latter after she began chewing kale leaves on a branded Nutro display. "That’s a farm dog."

Look back at several of Ian and Nikki's cutest pics over the years...

—Reporting by Amanda Champagne-Meadows

Nikki and Ian pay tribute to their Twilight and Vampire Diaries characters in the actress' first TikTok, shared Jan. 18, 2024.

The Vampire Diaries actor wrote on Instagram Dec. 31, "Yeahhhhhhh 2024!"

The Lost actor praises his wife for helping him get "out of a terrible business situation" that left him in the hospital. "This woman here decided that she didn't want to see her husband ruin his body/mind/spirit and pulled up her bootstraps and got down in the trenches assembling a team to get to the negotiating table to find a way out," he shared. "She devoted her life to getting me out of that mess and it almost killed her along the way. I am where I am BECAUSE of this woman. Brothers Bond Bourbon is actually here today because of this woman. I was able to start my life over because of this woman."

In December 2020, Nikki shared a sweet birthday tribute to her husband, writing, "Happy Happy birthday to this man right here. The most creative, certifiably genius, deepest thinker of anyone I have ever known with the most giving spirit."

Ian and wife Nikki celebrated spring (and being married four years) by sipping on bush chai in the rainforest in April 2019. 

The actor shared this romantic photo, along with a sweet caption about his lady love on their fourth wedding anniversary in 2019. "I'm completely blown away by you...," he began, adding, "Whether dancing at our wedding, swimming across the seas, cuddling one of our furry creatures, jumping on airplanes around the world, snapping beautiful photos or sitting hand and hand looking at the ocean with a beer: we do it all together. It's been nothing short of amazing to breathe the air of the bright blue sky all over this planet with you."

This duo's love is one that clearly defies the laws of physics.

The lovebirds really like locking lips with each other!

In this throwback picture from 2015, the precious pair enjoyed some not-so-covert makeout time.

In another flashback photo—this time from 2014—the Vampire Diaries actor whisked his wife right off her feet!

During New York Fashion Week, the cute couple shared a sweet smooch in the rain.

For Father's Day, the CW star threw it back to this adorable moment where he planted a peck on Nikki's growing baby bump.

The two showed off their fit figures while out on the water in this photo. And clearly, they couldn't keep their hands off each other!

The actress loves doing acrobatics and her hubby loves supporting her (literally!).

This precious photo was posted in honor of the couple's third anniversary and we can't get over the cuteness.

Aw, how romantic. The lovebirds smooched under the setting sun on Valentine's Day.

Aren't these two so cute sharing a kiss at the Golden Globes?

The animal lovers look so cozy laying on the grass next to some beautiful horses in this snap.

The couple loves their PDA.