diff --git a/src/clj/cascalog/playground.clj b/src/clj/cascalog/playground.clj
index ba3c1422..158f7051 100644
--- a/src/clj/cascalog/playground.clj
+++ b/src/clj/cascalog/playground.clj
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 ;;    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 (ns cascalog.playground
+  (:require [cascalog.conf :as conf])
   (:import [java.io PrintStream]
            [cascalog WriterOutputStream]
            [org.apache.log4j Logger WriterAppender SimpleLayout]))
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@
 (defn bootstrap []
   (use 'cascalog.api
        '[jackknife.seq :only (find-first)])
+  (conf/set-job-conf! {"io.sort.mb" 1})
   (require '(cascalog [workflow :as w]
                       [ops :as c]
                       [vars :as v])))