This is actually happening in New York City (more specifically, and completely unsurprisingly, Williamsburg):

Mr. Crisi has come up with what he calls a more “authentic” souvenir: a test-tube filled with muslin fabric stained with dirt, grass and dust from sites across Brooklyn. A dirt-level ode to the borough, it is offered at a price commensurate with Brooklyn’s aspirational branding profile — $24 — and sealed with vegan-friendly, soy-based wax.

Though online sales have been relatively slow since bottledBrooklyn went online in May, Mr. Crisi and his partners have been sufficiently encouraged to begin offering a five-borough sampler pack, with soil from Staten Island and breezes from the Bronx, at $96.

Hmm. Brainstorm time: What could we bottle in D.C.? Flotsam from the Anacostia River? Dust from the streetcar track construction on H Street NE? Dirt from the McMillan sand filtration site? Sighs of the longterm unemployed? Let us know in the comments and I’ll make sure you get a cut of the profits (okay, not really).

Photo by Mr. T in DC via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License