This is my Perfect Path(tm). The hens that are free to wander around the garden all day love nothing more than rummaging around in the raised bed on the left. Trouble is, in the process, they kick all the soil (and the occasional small plant) down onto my path. I've told them off about it several times. Last week I'd had enough. The path was buried under 3 inches of dirt and barbecue coals, a bag of which they'd also managed to break into. I shoveled all of the soil back into the raised beds, swept the path and renewed the gravel between the slabs. Perfect. It stayed that way for 20 minutes. The hens were back in the bed, kicking dirt back down as though their lives depended on it. That was last Wednesday. I've cleared it up again several times since then. Today, after the sweeping, I took a photograph just so I know how it should look. That was a few hours ago. It's been messed up by the hens already! That's the price of fresh eggs!