About Us

The Holland Area Beekeepers Association (HABA) began in the 1950's as an opportunity for local beekeepers to meet and share ideas. We strive to carry on their endeavor as we continue to meet and share resources to educate and encourage all those who love the honeybee. HABA’s mission is to:

Encourage and embolden beekeepers and help to establish first-time beekeepers in the success of their efforts.

Promote fraternity among local members and beekeepers universally.

Afford a forum for the exchange of ideas, guidance and mutual support in the keeping of Apis mellifara, the honey bee.

Assist in the education of the community relating to apiculture, its benefits, and necessity.

Become a resource for materials, equipment, knowledge, marketing, and local patronage of beekeeping products.

Rick Arnold

PRESIDENT 2023; 2024-2025
Rick is a 5th generation beekeeper who grew up working bees with his father’s commercial bee business of 1,500 colonies. With passing of his father in 2017, Rick decided it was time to carry on the legacy when he formed the Holland Heritage Bee Co. with his wife, Shelly. The main goal of HHBeeCo. is to raise environmentally sustainable colonies with over-wintered Michigan bees, support pollinator habitat, provide NUCs to new beekeepers, extract honey and make mead (honey wine). Rick enjoys continuous learning about the fascinating bees and being in fellowship with other beekeepers.
Lee Bosko

VICE PRESIDENT 2023-2024
It started with a friend telling me I should do bees. About 3 years later I started in 2019 with bee school. That spring I picked up my box of bees and all the equipment I needed to make it happen. By August of that year my bees had swarmed away. Next year they made it through the summer, and I got just a little bit of honey.
Successfully overwintering a hive has been a challenge, but I keep trying different things. That is what makes beekeeping so much fun…there is not just one way to do things. It's just like being a farmer in town, you must take care of your animals.
I have worked for 33 years in the financial service industry.
Darlene Dreyer

TREASURER 2023-2024
Darlene has been actively supporting her son Alan and granddaughter in their beekeeping pursuits for the last five years. She has over 50 years experience in accounting and is currently volunteering as treasurer for her church. She enjoys serving HABA as its treasurer!
Carrie Johnson

SECRETARY 2024-2025
My love for bees and eventually my journey into beekeeping, started with a memory of my grandfather’s bees. I have forever been interested in bees, flower gardens and have a strong love for the outdoors. I have a memory of a small apiary and bees all over my grandma's flower garden. I didn't remember the details of this memory until this year when my uncles talked to me about how Grandpa used to have bees and they loved that I was sharing in the same interest as him. A light bulb went off and I now have more memories to cherish. Even though my love of bees has been for my entire life, my journey officially started in the beginning of 2019 when I ordered 3 packages of my very own bees. Since then, I've studied, listened, learned, cried over losses and adjusted a lot. I had grown up to 14 hives this summer. I have since brought it back down to 9 strong and beautiful hives. I'm very excited for this coming year to see where my journey leads me.
Michelle Achterhof

MEMBER AT LARGE 2024
I have been an avid gardener for over 10 years. I got into beekeeping after having concerns with reduced pollination in our veggie/cut flower garden. I had taken to hand pollinating some of my plants, but honey bees are naturally way more efficient than I. Not to mention they provide a sweet treat at the end for us.
My family and I now care for our 3 acre homestead and have 2 hives to support our gardening efforts. This is just my second year with honey bees. I took a year off last year after losing my 2 hives in the winter of 2022-23, but I am looking forward to working with them again this year.
Shelly Arnold

MEMBER AT LARGE 2024
Shelly works with her husband in various aspects of their Holland Heritage Bee Co. She grew up extremely fearful of bees, really anything that buzzes and stings. She was very reluctant when husband Rick became serious about resurrecting his family’s five generation beekeeping legacy. Her mind was changed after attending a Michigan Beekeepers Association spring conference at MSU. Learning about these amazing pollinators won her over. She is employed by a higher education institution in Western Michigan as an office manager. She and her husband have three grown children and four grandchildren.
Angie Commons

MEMBER AT LARGE 2024
Alan Dreyer

MEMBER AT LARGE 2024
After the family garden, after many years of not having one, failed in the Fall of 2018, we began trying to figure out what was different this time from years past. When it was pointed out that we used to have a neighbor who was a beekeeper and had several hives in his backyard, the lights went on. I spent that winter researching all I could on beekeeping, and stumbled upon the HABA Bee School, Spring of 2019. I purchased a package of bees and a hive and was off to the races. I currently have a small apiary on the family property in Wayland, that I manage with my eldest daughter.
Rich Dykstra

MEMBER AT LARGE 2024
Since retiring from a career in real property assessing and real estate appraising, I have been establishing our 1 1⁄2 acre homestead. My wife Lorrie and I raise vegetables & fruit trees in a large garden area, plus we have small flowering prairies that support pollinating insects.
Three years ago I added honey bees as another hobby. The first year I didn’t actually have any bees. I dedicated myself to classes (on-line and in person), mentored under another beekeeper and did extensive reading in order to educate myself as much as I could prior to actually getting any “livestock.” I also participated in the 50 hour HERO’S TO HIVES classes sponsored by MSU Extension (and taught by Adam Ingrao) and took the MSU Pollinator Champions course.
I currently have 3 hives. Every time I open a hive I learn something new!