Need browns

My summer compost bin, while cooking merrily away, is pathetically short on browns. I can't use dropped leaves from my property because they're all from oaks infested with oak leaf borers. I can't get leaves from neighbors because everyone's leaves are all picked up. What is a cheap source of carbon rich material that I can add to my bin right now, that will be organic? I can get shredded office paper, but I worry about too much ink. I thought about buying a bale or two of straw, but is it possible to ensure that it wasn't sprayed at some point in its life? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

There are lots of ways to get browns that aren't from your own property or your neighbors'. The difficulty is in determining that which doesn't contain any unwanted components. Does your county have a paper/cardboard recycling center? We could get all the newspaper or corrugated cardboard we could ever use at ours. How about your local power company. They are generally out doing utility rights of way clearing at this time of year which generates tons and tons of wood chips (could possibly contain those borers you don't want). Shredded paper from the office sounds benign, after all people shred their bills. It doesn't sound like you are looking for major amounts of material so I'd stick with newspapers. Newspapers use soy ink, so all but the shiny ads/magazines can be used. Even a month's worth of daily and Sunday editions can make quite a sizeable pile of compost material. You may not even have to leave home to get it.