diff --git a/lib/foreman.rb b/lib/foreman.rb
index a7cfaa9..f9c522a 100644
--- a/lib/foreman.rb
+++ b/lib/foreman.rb
@@ -4,5 +4,10 @@ module Foreman
 
   class AppDoesNotExist < Exception; end
 
+  # load contents of env_file into ENV
+  def self.load!(env_file)
+    require 'foreman/engine'
+    Foreman::Engine.load_env(env_file)
+  end
 end
 
diff --git a/spec/foreman_spec.rb b/spec/foreman_spec.rb
index b0a0286..f2c14cf 100644
--- a/spec/foreman_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/foreman_spec.rb
@@ -8,4 +8,18 @@ describe Foreman do
     it { should be_a String }
   end
 
+  describe "::load!(env_file)" do
+    before do
+      File.open("/tmp/env1", "w") { |f| f.puts("FOO=bar") }
+    end
+
+    after do
+      ENV['FOO'] = nil
+    end
+
+    it "should load env_file into ENV" do
+      Foreman.load!("/tmp/env1")
+      ENV['FOO'].should == 'bar'
+    end 
+  end
 end