Watermelon & mint juice for a roadside stall

Inspired by the recent success of her two cousins' pink lemonade stand in Sydney recently (go Pippa and Stella!) - this weekend, Alice decided that we should try something similar here in Orange.

So, she co-opted a partner in enterprise (the lovely Hannah pictured below right) and the services of Hannah's mum and myself to make it happen. Happen it did, and this afternoon we four found ourselves on the side of the road, in the scorching heat selling icy cold watermelon and mint drinks.

I say selling, but the more correct description would be 'attempting to sell'.

The traffic sped past oblivious to or uninterested in our signage and so we relied on our ever-helpful neighbours to swing by and purchase (it helped that Tim had called everyone of them half an hour before we opened with a pretty please...)

The upshot of it all is that we know the product is a winner - the mint, watermelon and honey combo with heaps of ice perfect for this hot weather. And even better, our friends at The Agrestic Grocer have stepped in to save the day and invited us to set up the stand tomorrow in their carpark where there will surely be about a thousand times more passing car and foot traffic.

This is so typical of Danielle, Lucas, Katie and Beau - combined owners of The Agrestic Grocer. They are completely behind this community and always supportive of any local enterprise big or in our case very very small.

So tomorrow, Orange locals - the kids and their Mums will be back in business selling their special juice recipe outside the Agrestic Grocer on the Mitchell Hwy just out of Orange from 12-1pm. See you there!

And for those unable to make it tomorrow, which I understand will be many! Here is the recipe for Alice and Hannah's watermelon and mint juice, it really is delicious and not bad, as the grown-ups found last week during product testing, with a splash of vodka. We bought the watermelons from a roadside stall (fitting really) in Canowindra - they are in season at the moment, really well priced and just delicious.

Watermelon and mint juice

6 cups water

1/2 cup honey (or more to taste)

2 big handfuls of mint

1 large watermelon, sliced into rough chunks

Lots of ice

Combine the water, honey and mint in a saucepan and bring just to boiling point. Remove from heat, strain and discard the mint, then keep the syrup in the fridge until needed. Puree the watermelon in a blender or food processor (you can strain it to make a nice thin juice but we didn't bother) then combine this with the honey syrup and serve over lots of ice.