DAFVM Spotlight Employee: Marilyn Goff
Marilyn Goff
Marilyn Goff can answer most of the questions clients pose when they call or stop by the Greene County Extension office.
But early on in her career as an office associate, she got a question she didn’t know how to answer.
“When I first started my job, I got a call from a client who had a hickory tree that he loved because it shaded his house, but he hated the nuts dropping on his tin roof,” Goff said. “He didn’t want to cut down the tree, so he asked if there was a way to sterilize the tree so it wouldn’t produce any more hickory nuts. I didn’t know of one, so I simply said, ‘Let me let you talk to our county agent.’”
Over the past 18 years, Goff has learned a thing or two about trees and plants. Her love for flowers and gardening led her to go through the Master Gardener program.
“Becoming a Master Gardener helped me with client questions, too,” Goff said.
Goff and her husband of six years, Dwain, run a small farm. Their Dachshund/Jack Russell mix dog serves as the superintendent, she said, and keeps them all in line.
“We have a small flock of Katahdin sheep, grown mainly for meat, and we have laying hens and a big garden every year,” she said. “Our favorite thing to do, though, is to go fishing. We live in an area where we can go saltwater or freshwater fishing. We get really competitive about who catches the most or the biggest fish."
Editor's note: The Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine Spotlight Employee profiles are provided by the Office of Agricultural Communications at Mississippi State. For more information, please click here.
