Kuryluk/Hilworth Farm

Farm was established in 1928

By my grandparents Thomas and Katherine Kuryluk(nee Yaholnitsky) whom immigrated from Ukraine.

Current owners – Larry and Kathy Hilworth

It is a cereal oilseed grain farm

This is a picture of my Grandparents farm. Grandpa Tom immigrated from Ukraine and initially settled in the Stornoway district wherein he met my grandmother Katherine Yaholinitsky. Shortly thereafter they moved and purchased the current farm just east of Yorkton. They had 5 children, Chris (Winnitowy) Betty (Hilworth- my mom) Marlene (Lawby) Merve Kuryluk and Leslie Kuryluk – Leslie was tragically killed at a young age in a vehicle accident while he and Merve were walking from town to the farm.

Grandpa’s farm was a successful operation. Albeit smaller in today’s standards it was a successful dairy and grain farm. Grandpa Tom had a prize-winning Holstein dairy and was well known in the area for the breed, his cows and the excellent milk production. He was also known for being the first on the land in the spring. He had acquired a very expensive cow that he imported from Switzerland that had tremendous bloodlines is how the story was told to us. We were also told he ran a custom threshing machine as well and helped neighbors harvest. Larry remembers as a young boy travelling to the brick mill with his grandfather in a 1963 IHC grain truck loaded with wheat to get processed into flour. That truck is still on the farm and because of these early childhood memories that Larry and Kathy elected to donate towards the brick mill.

Grandpa was also a prominent cattle displayer at the annual Yorkton Exhibition and captured many awards for his quality Holstein cattle. He also served as a councillor for the RM OF Wallace for 32 years

Larry was always inspired and intrigued by the farm, having spent all his summers at the farm and many times at a young age hitchhiked from Melville to go to the farm and then his mother would come and pick him up at night. He always enjoyed harvest and still does. It was always a childhood dream of Larry’s to “farm the farm” someday. This appeared to be just that a dream and as the years went by Larry kept hanging onto the dream. Larry worked with uncle Merve whom had eventually took over the farm. And later on in life when Larry had sold his business interests, he approached Uncle Merve to see if he could buy the farm. It was a process as the land had value considering it was next door to the City. Eventually a deal was struck and Larry and Kathy purchased the family farm. In early 2015 not only was the childhood dream realized but also another challenge that Larry had was to purchase a farm and make it successful without farm being transitioned or gifted down from family like seems to be the case these days or the only way that someone could envision even starting to farm. The farm was purchased and while it was rented out for a year or so, Kathy suggested to Larry that he should “farm” the land as that is all he ever wanted to do. At the outset it did not make financial sense to do this as all equipment was needed, and the land base was insignificant to support equipment acquisition, Grain storage and equipment storage etc., but the desire to farm was there and assets were bought and constructed and the journey began. Shortly thereafter more land was bought and rented and continues as a grain/oilseed farm.

In 2028 the Kuryluk farm will be 100 years old.

The farm was always the gathering of the entire extended family, and is still captured in the hearts and minds of all my family and cousins. While the farm has changed over time, the premise of it being the “farm” for all the family continues, a place to enjoy the outside, the great views, nature, the flowing of the “river” through the farm, the memories of the trains that used to pass through the farm, the seeding of the crops with the smell of freshly seeded soil, the ripening of the crops and then the harvest is so special. We are blessed to have been able to purchase the “farm” and to keep it in the family, continuing the journey that my grandparents started almost 100 year ago.