Grow Where You Are

This track was born from a real headline: Community gardens transforming food deserts across American cities — neighbors converting vacant lots into thriving gardens that feed hundreds of families in neighborhoods where the nearest grocery store is miles away. Muckraker's indie-folk production gives the story the weight of a front-page exclusive — journalism you can feel in your chest. Lines like "Since the Kroger closed in 2019, boarded up the door," anchor the track in specifics that generic coverage misses. The mood — gentle, hopeful, community warmth — reflects the emotional reality behind the numbers. Every Majik's Studio news track exists to make you feel the story, not just read it.

[verse 1] On the corner of Maplewood and Seventh there's a lot that used to rot, Broken glass and shopping carts and everything the city forgot, But Miss Lorraine from the duplex next door had a vision and a hoe, Said, "If nobody's gonna feed this block, I guess I'll have to grow," She was seventy-one with a bad left knee and a truck bed full of soil, Started turning dirt in April, calloused hands from honest toil, The neighborhood in East St. Louis hadn't had a grocery store, Since the Kroger closed in 2019, boarded up the door, Four miles to the nearest produce, take the bus if it shows up, Or eat the corner store for dinner, chips and ketchup in a cup, But Lorraine planted collard greens and tomatoes, squash and beans, And the empty lot on Seventh started bursting at the seams, Mrs. Williams brought her grandson, he put cucumber seeds in rows, Mr. Obi from Nigeria planted peppers no one knows. [chorus] Grow where you are, grow where you are, You don't need a farm, you don't need a car, Grow where you are, grow where you are, Every seed's a little light, every root's a star, Grow where you are, grow where you are, Turn the broken ground into who we are, Grow where you are, grow where you are, And watch what happens when we tend this far. [verse 2] By July the plot was sixty raised beds, painted bright in every shade, Volunteers from three different churches showing up with lemonade, A retired soil scientist from the college down the way, Tested all the lead levels and taught composting every Saturday, The harvest came in August like a miracle on the vine, Four hundred pounds of produce in a single summer line, Lorraine set up a table on the sidewalk, free for all, Bags of peppers, bags of okra, kale stacked three feet tall, The kids started a cooking class in the rec center down the block, Learning knife skills, learning nutrition, learning how to take the stock, A sixth grader named Destiny made a salad for her mom, First fresh vegetables in the house since God knows how long gone, And the city council noticed when the local paper wrote the piece, Now they're replicating Lorraine's model in twelve vacant lots at least. [chorus] Grow where you are, grow where you are, You don't need a farm, you don't need a car, Grow where you are, grow where you are, Every seed's a little light, every root's a star, Grow where you are, grow where you are, Turn the broken ground into who we are, Grow where you are, grow where you are, And watch what happens when we tend this far. [bridge] Lorraine says it's not about the vegetables at all, It's about the neighbors talking over the garden wall, It's Mr. Obi teaching Destiny the Igbo word for rain, It's Mrs. Williams laughing loud for the first time since her pain, You plant a seed, you grow a meal, but somewhere in between, You grow the thing that grocery stores were never built to bring. [chorus] Grow where you are, grow where you are, You don't need a farm, you don't need a car, Grow where you are, grow where you are, Every seed's a little light, every root's a star, Grow where you are, grow where you are, Turn the broken ground into who we are, Grow where you are, grow where you are, And watch what happens when we tend this far. [outro] Grow where you are, grow where you are, Grow where you are, grow where you are, And watch what happens when we tend this far.