With subdivisions and neighborhoods encroaching on the rural parts of the county, Tommy Swearingen has found a way to preserve a large tract of land with a conservation community.

The conservation community — named Dauerwalden by Swear-ingen — will preserve over 1,000 acres of land through conservation easements, Swearingen said.

Only a handful of residents will be able to live on about 100 acres of the property, he added.

“Dauerwalden is a project that preserves a landscape and the ecology of the land,” Swearingen said.

It is a model of sustainable development for Swearingen’s family farm —the Beebe Farm, he said.

The name Dauerwalden is a combination of the German translation of dauer — perpetual, sustainable; wald meaning forest; and Henry David Thoreau’s home Walden, Swearingen said.

Loosely translated it means a sustainable forest home, he added.

Swearingen bought out his aunt and uncle’s portion of the Beebe Farm — about 40 percent of the property. Then his mother gifted her portion of the land to him, his sister and his brother, Swearingen said.

He bought his brother’s land from him and his sister still has an interest in the farm, he added.

The Beebe Farm — located on Baldwin County Road 40 is the only large farm between Bay Minette and Spanish Fort, according to Swearingen. The land is about 2 square miles in area.

Swearingen has already given up about 400 acres of land in a conservation easement, he said.

“This entire landscape will remain,” Swearingen said of the land surrounding the road.

A conservation easement preserves the land for one of five reasons: scenery, history, education, ecology and/or recreation, according to Swearingen.

The owner gives up the right to develop the land, Swearingen said.

“The land contributes to the public good by preserving the scenery and surrounding ecology,” he said.

Swearingen is currently working on a bio-restoration, he said.

He is restoring the native Long Leaf Pine Tree to about 30 acres of land, Swearingen said.

The land was cleared and seedlings were planted. Then a prescribed burn gives the seedlings a chance to grow without other weeds and plants sharing the sunlight and rain. This can create stress on the trees that paired with the current drought can cause damage, Swearingen said.

Some areas are being planted with seedlings for the third time, he added.

Daurwalden allows people to avoid urban development, preserves open space and farm land, and manage a working forest on an ecological model.

“The objective of DauerWalden is to live on the urban fringe,” Swearingen said.

“The land is on the edge of development,” Swearingen said of Beebe Farm.

While being a conservation farm, the idea is urban fringe, he said.

He has set aside about 106 acres of land, which is broken down into 25 lots, Swearingen said.

Dauerwalden allows families to live in a rural setting, with land for children to ride bikes and run around. “Yet they are not that far from the cities that they couldn’t work in a law firm in downtown Mobile,” Swearingen said.

“The only way you can manage (property that large) is with a community to support and help,” he said.

By sharing the workload, everyone can lead a normal life — no one is tied down to the farm where they might normally have to do everything, every time, every day, Swearingen added.

When a family buys one of the lots, they essentially buy a 4 percent interest in the farm as well, Swearingen said.

Several different fruits, vegetables and animals are grown and raised on the farm. So for instance, if 25 bushels of persimmons are harvested, then each residence would receive one bushel of persimmons, he said.

Residents can chose to work and participate in the undertaking of the farm or not, Swearingen said.

“It lets people have the country life they dream of,” he added.