public Hashtable getProperties(String workingDir) throws IOException {
// TODO: keep a record of the projects created, this is how we will cache the properties
Project project = new Project();
project.setName(workingDir);
LoadProperties props = new LoadProperties();
props.setProject(project);
project.setProperty("project.home", workingDir);
props.setSrcFile(new File(workingDir + File.separatorChar + "forrest.properties"));
props.execute();
props.setSrcFile(new File(FORREST_DEFAULT_PROPERTIES_FILE));
props.execute();
project.setProperty("forrest.home", FORREST_HOME);
project.setProperty("forrest.plugins", FORREST_PLUGINS);
return project.getProperties();