diff --git a/tasks/populate.rake b/tasks/populate.rake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57f0064
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tasks/populate.rake
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+namespace :db do
+  desc "Loads initial database models for the current environment."
+  task :populate => :environment do
+    Dir[File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'db', 'fixtures', '*.rb')].sort.each { |fixture| load fixture }
+    Dir[File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'db', 'fixtures', RAILS_ENV, '*.rb')].sort.each { |fixture| load fixture }
+  end
+end