and poodle groomers throw away hair.

Seafood processors will sell truckloads of fresh crab, fish and
shrimp waste for a small fee. Of course, this material becomes
evil-smelling in very short order but might be relatively
inoffensive if a person had a lot of spoiled hay or sawdust waiting
to mix into it. Market gardeners near the Oregon coast sheet-compost
crab waste, tilling it into the soil before it gets too "high."
Other parts of the country might supply citrus wastes, sugar cane
bagasse, rice hulls, etc.

About Common Materials

_Alfalfa_ is a protein-rich perennial legume mainly grown as animal
feed. On favorable soil it develops a deep root system, sometimes
exceeding ten feet. Alfalfa draws heavily on subsoil minerals so it
will be as rich or poor in nutrients as the subsoil it grew in. Its
average C/N is around 12:1 making alfalfa useful to compensate for
larger quantities of less potent material. Sacked alfalfa meal or
pellets are usually less expensive (and being "stemmy," have a
slightly higher C/N) than leafy, best-quality baled alfalfa hay.
Rain-spoiled bales of alfalfa hay are worthless as animal feed but
far from valueless to the composter.

Pelletized rabbit feed is largely alfalfa fortified with grain.
Naturally, rabbit manure has a C/N very similar to alfalfa and is
nutrient rich, especially if some provision is made to absorb the
urine.

_Apple pomace_ is wet and compact. If not well mixed with stiff,