“Ripe for the Telling: Surprising Stories of Washington Fruit” will be on Sunday, March 6 at 2 p.m. at the Orcas Island Community Church. Admission is free.

What is the messy and juicy history of Washington’s produce industry? Who was Cashmere’s Cider King? From apples to oranges, huckleberries to durian, anthropologist Julia Harrison will cover how these perishable products preserve historic events and reflect our changing relationship to the natural world.

This discussion includes a large cast of characters: pioneers, entrepreneurs, orchardists, labor activists, a horticultural prodigy and Cashmere’s own “Cider King.” Full of suspense, tragedy, triumph, heroism and even some romance, this presentation will reveal some of our state’s juiciest stories. Beyond providing nutrition and injecting billions of dollars into Washington state’s economy, fruit connects us to the past, to the environment and to people we may never meet.

Admission to this event is free thanks to support from Humanities Washington and the Friends of Orcas Island Library.

Sweet foods have been the focus of Harrison’s research as an anthropologist since 2004. In addition to her “Sweet Travel” blog, she has had her work published in Edible Seattle and Wasabi Magazine.

In 2011 she launched the SweetMap website to preserve the stories behind the sweets industry.

In 2013 she created SWEET, A KidPLACE for the Wing Luke Museum. The exhibition was designed to address humanities topics through images, recordings and illustrations, reflected through sweet treats from Asia. Her formal training includes a B.A. in Anthropology from Macalester College, an M.A. in Applied Anthropology from Macquarie University, and two years of additional study on Material Culture theory and methodology at University College London.

Harrison currently lives in Seattle.