Big Jim Farms (Winter of Enchantment)

Our take

Big Jim Farms started as a green-chile and produce u-pick operation in 2017, run by third-generation farmer Jimmy Wagner and his wife Roxanne. The Christmas tree program lives inside a separate seasonal event called Winter of Enchantment, now in its third year as of the 2025 season and partly funded by a $50,000 Albuquerque Tourism Department grant. That history is worth keeping in mind: this reads less like a dedicated tree grower and more like an established produce farm that built a holiday event around itself, with trees as one part of it.

What kind of tree experience this actually is

The farm’s own marketing can’t settle on an answer. Its about-us page and a local news writeup both describe visitors picking a “fresh-cut” tree, language that implies the trees are already cut and you choose from what’s on the ground. The Winter of Enchantment site instead invites visitors to “wander through rows of beautiful trees” in “a field of Christmas trees,” which reads more like standing, growing trees. Every source agrees you select an individual tree on-site rather than buying one sight-unseen, but whether the cutting happens before or after you pick is genuinely unclear from what’s published. If the distinction matters to you, whether you want a tree cut fresh that morning or you specifically want to cut your own, call and ask before you go.

The pricing gap

General admission to the tree field and holiday market is free, so browsing costs nothing. Beyond that, the only prices published anywhere are for two ticketed add-ons: a 5-minute Santa photo session, which includes two digital images plus one Polaroid, at $40, and a 4-course farm dinner with wine pairing at $125 per person, both 2025-season prices. No per-tree price appears on the farm’s website, its ticket page, or in any news coverage found. For a place billed partly as a tree farm, that is a real gap. Budget for the free admission plus whichever add-ons you want, and plan to ask about the actual tree cost when you arrive, or call ahead so you aren’t negotiating a price on the spot with kids in tow.

Hours, address, and season dates

Two different hours are published for the same operation: the Winter of Enchantment page lists 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the 2025 season, while the farm’s own contact page separately lists general farm hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. One event listing also gives a Montano Rd NW address rather than the farm’s Rio Grande Blvd NW address, so confirm the entrance before driving out. The 2025 event, its 3rd annual year, ran Nov 29 through Dec 21. 2026 dates were not published as of this research, so don’t assume that window repeats.

Why this is likely your only nearby option

Albuquerque’s Rio Grande Valley sits at roughly 5,000 feet in low desert, an unusual climate for commercial fir and spruce cultivation compared with New Mexico’s higher-elevation growers. A regularly maintained regional directory checked for this research states plainly that there are no Christmas tree farms in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area, listing only precut retail lots and national-forest cutting permits, and it does not mention Big Jim Farms at all. The state’s best-documented dedicated grower, at 7,300 feet in the Mora Valley, has reportedly been closed to the public and wholesale-only since 2019. None of that means Big Jim Farms isn’t worth a visit, but it is worth knowing you’re likely looking at the closest thing to a tree farm near Albuquerque rather than one of several comparable options, and that no source confirms what species are actually planted or sold there.