CAPE ELIZABETH – Jay Cox is obsessed with Christmas. He thinks

about it all year – on dark, dreary days in February, during rainy

days in May, in the dog days of summer. Now, after years of

planning, his Christmas passion has finally led to a dream

fulfilled. Cox this month opened The Old Farm Christmas Place of

Maine, located on the old Dyer-Hutchinson farm property in Cape

Elizabeth.

CAPE ELIZABETH – Jay Cox is obsessed with Christmas.

He thinks about it all year – on dark, dreary days in February, during rainy days in May, in the dog days of summer.

Now, after years of planning, his Christmas passion has finally led to a dream fulfilled. Cox this month opened The Old Farm Christmas Place of Maine, a Christmas tree farm and Christmas decoration shop, located on the old Dyer-Hutchinson farm property at 1148 Sawyer Road in Cape Elizabeth.

Cox began planning for his business after purchasing a 50-acre property from Tom Hinkle in 2001. In 2004, Cox planted his first crop of balsam fir trees and has been planting an average of 2,500 trees a year since then.

“The reason we have opened now is because the trees are finally market size and ready for sale,” Cox said. “Everything was designed to come together on this date.”

About 1,000 of the 18,000 trees are ready for sale. The hope, he said, is to get the crop up to 25,000 trees and replace them on a continual basis.

Cox is more than familiar with the operations of a Christmas tree farm. After all, running one is in his bloodline. For 25 years, his parents, Jim and Evelyn Cox, operated Dunroamin Farm, on the corner of Sawyer and Eastman Roads. Their 40 acres were purchased by Evelyn’s parents, Cliff and Doris Nielson, in 1930. Prior to that, the land was owned by the family of James Dyer Jr., son of James Dyer Sr., one of Cape Elizabeth’s first selectman when the town was founded in 1765. The acreage grew more than Christmas trees. In the fall, apples were harvested from the farm’s 600 apple trees and in the summers, strawberries were raised. No new trees were planted at Dunroamin Farm after Jay Cox began planting trees on his land. The farm’s last year selling trees was 2009. It still grows and sells flowers and could be used in the future for fruit trees.

Cox said he chose to start up his own business rather than continue his family’s business because that piece of property could only grow 500 trees a year, well below how many Cox was envisioning growing on an annual basis.

“I wanted to grow a lot more trees,” he said. “I couldn’t find an abutter who would sell land, so we started looking for a larger piece of property.”

Lucky for Cox, he had a family connection to the Dyer-Hutchinson property in that his grandmother, Doris Nielson, was friends with Margaret Hutchinson, the longtime owner.

Cox said he hopes to see the familiar faces of customers who patronized his parents’ business.

“I hope a lot of the customers that my parents spent years with will enjoy coming here,” he said. “I also hope to meet a lot of new people, too.”

Cox said it typically takes between seven to nine years for trees to reach the market size of 6 to 71?2 feet.

In April and May, he said, he plants trees that are 9 to 15 inches tall. Trees are monitored throughout the summer months and sheared and formed in the fall.

Cox said there isn’t anything quite like cutting down your own Christmas tree to decorate and display for the holiday season.

“Anyone can go and buy a fake tree or a precut tree somewhere,” he said. “Here I am trying to provide an experience where a family can come, get a wagon ride to the top of the hill [where the trees are], spend a little time outside and choose a tree. I am really selling an experience and not just trees.”

To add to the experience, Cox will offer refreshments such as hot cocoa or hot cider and a fire pit to help customers stay warm.

The trees available, he said, will be sold on a choose-and-cut or a tag-and-cut basis, in which customers can tag the tree they want -beginning this weekend – and return anytime between then and Dec. 23 to pick up the tree. The farm will cut the tagged tree if the customer requests. Prices for trees range from $45 to $55.

Tagging and cutting will be available Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to dark in November and Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m. to dark in December. The store will be open noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays in November and every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in December.

Cox will offer local delivery of Christmas trees and shipping of Christmas decorations as well.

His parents will be involved in his operation by making wreaths for sale in his store, which will include a broad range of Christmas decorations and ornaments, as well as garlands, centerpieces and funerary baskets.

The opening of the store was made possible through a zoning change adopted by the town in May.

The Cape Farm Alliance, of which Cox is a member, pushed hard to changed the zoning for farms to help diversify revenue streams and preserve the farmland in Cape Elizabeth.

“The town was very supportive. The public has indicated they are supportive of protecting open spaces and the town responded by being very responsive to the changes we suggested. It worked out well, I thought,” Cox said.

The new zoning ordinance increased the amount of non-Cape Elizabeth farm products allowed to be sold at a farm store from 25 percent to 50 percent, which is averaged annually to account for seasonal operations.

The new zoning ordinance meant, in Cox’s case, he could sell Christmas decorations and not have to rely on the revenue solely from Christmas tree sales.

Farming on the property dates back to January 1787. William Dyer built a 11?2-story cape-style house sometime before 1790. The building, which still stands today, is connected to Cox’s Christmas store.

The farmland was owned and operated by the Dyer-Hutchinson family until 1991, when Margaret Hutchinson died. It was then bought by Hinkle, who was able to place an agricultural easement on the property through the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust and an architectural easement on the buildings through Maine Preservation. It was included in the National Registry of Historic Places in 1997.

Jay Cox, owner of The Old Farm Christmas Place of Maine, said nine years of planning and seven years of planting are finally paying off this year, the first the Cape Elizabeth tree farm will be offering Christmas trees to the public. (Photo by Rich Obrey)A farm tractor and wagon brings visitors up the hill from the Christmas Store and parking lot to the tree farm. (Photo by Rich Obrey)