How we helped

Molly Gaines is a long-time, passionate advocate for urban food growing. It's a love that was seeded during her long-time work as a marketer of organic and local foods at Haberman, where she represented top brands such as Organic Valley, Annie’s Homegrown and the Twin Cities natural food co-ops.

Her passion for urban farming took shape when her kids were toddlers, on her family's 1/2-acre lot about one mile from downtown Minneapolis. There, she maintained a veggie and cut flower garden, tended to four backyard chickens and kept honeybees with her neighbors. She immersed herself in books about growing food in the city. Her own growing experiences led her to talk to countless people — particularly moms like herself — who wanted to plant a garden but has no clue where to start.

After more market research, she realized there was an opportunity in Minneapolis for a backyard farming business. In 2013, she decided to combine her enthusiasm for urban growing with her experience promoting sustainable food brands to launch her own business called The Urban Farmhands. The company's mission was to help people in the city grow their own food.

In its first season, she piloted the concept after hiring a lead gardener and a carpenter to build custom beds for each space. She also led the formation of the brand, gathering her gardening team and branding experts to create The Urban Farmhands' identity, establishing a brand voice and creating key brand assets to support the launch. 

After a year of testing the concept, building the brand and tinkering with the model, she officially opened for business in 2014. Molly and her team built gardens in backyards around the city, also maintaining them for clients throughout the growing season. 

Good results

The Urban Farmhands' experience gave Molly a broader business perspective, stretching far beyond communications and marketing, deepening her understanding of what it takes to successfully run a company. This knowledge has made her a more empathetic and informed partner to her clients today.

Here's a link to a video about The Urban Farmhands, which gives a sense of the business and brand she created: https://youtu.be/ykRpmh0g7kI.