This isn't "dirt" as in "land." This is dirt as in, well, dirt.
Stuff (NZ) reported Saturday about a couple guys selling dirt.
Two Irishmen have set up a business selling dirt to nostalgic Irish Americans who want a handful of "the mother country" on their graves.
Pat Burke, 27, and Alan Jenkins, 65, have just shipped their first $US1 million load of "official" Irish soil to New York - at $US15 ($NZ23) per 340 gram bag - and confidently expect it will be followed by many more.
"The demand has been absolutely phenomenal," Burke, an agricultural scientist from County Tipperary, said on Friday.
Burke, who has patented a way of processing the soil so it passes US import rules that demand it is free of disease and non-indigenous insects, said the pair were in talks with "one of the world's largest retailers" and a US shopping channel.
Because of Ireland's history of famine and unemployment that encouraged emigration, it's estimated that 40 million Americans have Irish ancestry, and there are at least 70 million worldwide. Quite a market for the dirt salesmen, whose website isn't up yet but will be here.
I'm part Irish, but my grandfather with the Irish ancestry was more in love with being Scottish, so he would have liked a handful of the Scottish Highlands in his grave instead. Maybe I can buy the Scotland franchise...
1 comment:
If all 70 million buy a handful of Irish dirt, maybe Ireland won't even be on the map anymore. It's not that big.
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