diff --git a/.rspec b/.rspec
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4e1e0d2f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.rspec
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+--color
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 7cceb7aee..b494c5bc4 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@ gem 'jquery-rails'
 # To use debugger
 # gem 'debugger'
 
-# growstuff additions
+#  GROWSTUFF ADDITIONS BELOW HERE
+
+# user signup/login/etc
 gem 'devise'
-gem 'rspec'
+
+# for testing
+gem 'rspec-rails'
+gem 'webrat'
+
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index f356b9eb5..84cc991b5 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ GEM
       treetop (~> 1.4.8)
     mime-types (1.19)
     multi_json (1.3.6)
+    nokogiri (1.5.5)
     orm_adapter (0.4.0)
     polyglot (0.3.3)
     rack (1.4.1)
@@ -96,6 +97,11 @@ GEM
     rspec-expectations (2.11.2)
       diff-lcs (~> 1.1.3)
     rspec-mocks (2.11.2)
+    rspec-rails (2.11.0)
+      actionpack (>= 3.0)
+      activesupport (>= 3.0)
+      railties (>= 3.0)
+      rspec (~> 2.11.0)
     sass (3.2.1)
     sass-rails (3.2.5)
       railties (~> 3.2.0)
@@ -119,6 +125,10 @@ GEM
       multi_json (~> 1.3)
     warden (1.2.1)
       rack (>= 1.0)
+    webrat (0.7.3)
+      nokogiri (>= 1.2.0)
+      rack (>= 1.0)
+      rack-test (>= 0.5.3)
 
 PLATFORMS
   ruby
@@ -129,8 +139,9 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   devise
   jquery-rails
   rails (= 3.2.8)
-  rspec
+  rspec-rails
   sass-rails (~> 3.2.3)
   sqlite3
   therubyracer
   uglifier (>= 1.0.3)
+  webrat
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..88492529f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# This file is copied to spec/ when you run 'rails generate rspec:install'
+ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
+require File.expand_path("../../config/environment", __FILE__)
+require 'rspec/rails'
+require 'rspec/autorun'
+
+# Requires supporting ruby files with custom matchers and macros, etc,
+# in spec/support/ and its subdirectories.
+Dir[Rails.root.join("spec/support/**/*.rb")].each {|f| require f}
+
+RSpec.configure do |config|
+  # ## Mock Framework
+  #
+  # If you prefer to use mocha, flexmock or RR, uncomment the appropriate line:
+  #
+  # config.mock_with :mocha
+  # config.mock_with :flexmock
+  # config.mock_with :rr
+
+  # Remove this line if you're not using ActiveRecord or ActiveRecord fixtures
+  config.fixture_path = "#{::Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"
+
+  # If you're not using ActiveRecord, or you'd prefer not to run each of your
+  # examples within a transaction, remove the following line or assign false
+  # instead of true.
+  config.use_transactional_fixtures = true
+
+  # If true, the base class of anonymous controllers will be inferred
+  # automatically. This will be the default behavior in future versions of
+  # rspec-rails.
+  config.infer_base_class_for_anonymous_controllers = false
+
+  # Run specs in random order to surface order dependencies. If you find an
+  # order dependency and want to debug it, you can fix the order by providing
+  # the seed, which is printed after each run.
+  #     --seed 1234
+  config.order = "random"
+
+end
diff --git a/spec/support/devise.rb b/spec/support/devise.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5d898b4d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/support/devise.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+RSpec.configure do |config|
+  config.include Devise::TestHelpers, :type => :controller
+  config.include Devise::TestHelpers, :type => :view
+end
diff --git a/spec/view/index_spec.rb b/spec/view/index_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a396c0bcb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/view/index_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+describe 'home/index.html.erb', :type => "view" do
+  context "when not logged in" do
+
+    before(:each) do
+      view.stub(:user_signed_in).and_return(false)
+      view.stub(:current_user).and_return(nil)
+    end
+
+    it 'shows the homepage' do
+        render
+        rendered.should contain 'Growstuff'
+    end
+    
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index 8bf1192ff..7a1aa565f 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -10,4 +10,8 @@ class ActiveSupport::TestCase
   fixtures :all
 
   # Add more helper methods to be used by all tests here...
+
+  class ActionController::TestCase
+    include Devise::TestHelpers
+  end
 end