Screaming Gecko Vanilla Farm

03/31/2026

Vanilla is popping!!! Late season bloom. Super stoked.

12/15/2025

Who wants a last minute Xmas gift of a vanilla extract kit from Screaming Gecko Vanilla Farm? 25 bucks plus shipping. I take Venmo. You get three vanilla beans, a sweet bottle, Sceaming Gecko sticker, and directions to make your own vanilla extract from Hawaiian vanilla beans. Mahalo!

07/31/2025

20x60 shade house has arrived. I’m waiting for some crushed coral to level out the back yard and soon it will be going up!

06/29/2025

Vanilla weekend on Big Island. Biggest mahalo to Wild Vanilla Farm for being the best hosts!!!

05/28/2025

Curing vanilla beans. Day 1, Day 2, and Day 11.

05/19/2025

The first 48 hours is crucial when curing vanilla beans!

05/17/2025

Cure. Day 1. And some Tahitian vanilla

05/17/2025

Beginning the cure…. Day 1.

02/21/2025

Vanilla. Two plants per 5 gallon pot! Tahitensis vanilla.

02/05/2025

We’re experimenting today. Hawaiian Coffee Vanilla Liqueur made with vanilla beans from Screaming Gecko Vanilla Farm!

02/05/2025

Thank you, Edmond Albius!!

Edmond Albius was just a 12-year-old boy, enslaved and without formal education, in 1841. However, he managed to develop an innovative technique to pollinate vanilla orchids quickly and profitably, solving an enigma that intrigued prominent botanists of the time. Without her contribution, vanilla would not have achieved the popularity it has today.
In the 1820s, French settlers brought vanilla capsules to the island of Reunion, where Albius was born in 1829, near Madagascar, and to Mauritius from Mexico. It soon became clear that no insect from the region could pollinate vanilla orchids, unlike Mexico, where wild bees did the job. In the 1830s, the Belgian botanist Charles Morten developed a manual pollination technique, but it took a lot of time and work.
Albius, at 12, used leaves of grass or fine pieces of wood to lift the flower lid and fold the male part, allowing pollen to come in contact with the female part. Then, with the thumb, he pressed slightly, performing the pollination effectively. Although simple, its technique revolutionized the industry and transformed Reunion into one of the largest suppliers of vanilla in the world.
Albius' contributions to science went unnoticed during his lifetime and he passed away into poverty and oblivion. Only many years after his death his work was recognized and celebrated as a significant breakthrough in the history of botany. To this day, the Albius technique is used in Madagascar and the country stands out as the largest supplier of vanilla in the world.