Bipeds of Brookland: Zack Poimboeuf

Zack Poimboeuf was born in Louisiana but, “I always kind of wanted to live in DC. Ever since I was a little kid when I came up here for the National Scout Jamboree in 1985.” Both of his parents were social workers, and he followed in their footsteps, graduating with his MSW and going on to provide direct counseling at a center for low income families. “I taught parenting seminars, and I started a program in a local jail for incarcerated fathers so they could visit their kids.”

However, Zack began to get restless, and decided to apply to the Peace Corps. In 2002 he began serving as a community health agent in Niger. While he already spoke French, growing up in Louisiana, he “needed a lot of language instruction

Bipeds of Brookland: Astrid Jöhnk

In more ways than one, Hamburg-native Astrid Jöhnk has roots in Brookland.

In 1998, Astrid arrived in America from Germany to pursue a career in hotel management with Marriott. In 2009, she moved into the Brookland home she bought with her now-wife, Shani.

And that’s when the gardening and landscaping started.

“Growing up, I never lived in a house with a yard,” she says. “I never had the space to do any gardening. It just happened that, with our house in Brookland, I wanted to do something with the small front and backyard space we had.”

It helps that Astrid’s neighbor is the headquarters of Casey Trees. One of their tree planting team leaders, Astrid spends much of her free time (when she’s not working as