diff --git a/config/application.rb b/config/application.rb
index 11c1375cd..16f4ae061 100644
--- a/config/application.rb
+++ b/config/application.rb
@@ -58,5 +58,8 @@ module Growstuff
 
     # Version of your assets, change this if you want to expire all your assets
     config.assets.version = '1.0'
+
+    # Don't try to connect to the database when precompiling assets
+    config.assets.initialize_on_precompile = false
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/tasks/testing.rake b/lib/tasks/testing.rake
index cc082b0be..e2a99ea9b 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/testing.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/testing.rake
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 require 'rake'
-require 'rspec/core/rake_task'
+begin
+  require 'rspec/core/rake_task'
 
-RSpec::Core::RakeTask.new(:spec)
+  RSpec::Core::RakeTask.new(:spec)
 
-task :default => :spec
+  task :default => :spec
 
-task :run_tests do
-  system("rspec spec/")
-	system("rake test")
+  task :run_tests do
+    system("rspec spec/")
+    system("rake test")
+  end
+rescue LoadError
 end
-
diff --git a/lib/tasks/watchr.rake b/lib/tasks/watchr.rake
index 498b82be8..4f48a3761 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/watchr.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/watchr.rake
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-desc "Run watchr"
-task :watchr do
-    sh %{bundle exec watchr .watchr}
+begin
+  desc "Run watchr"
+  task :watchr do
+      sh %{bundle exec watchr .watchr}
+  end
+rescue LoadError
 end